The federal money behind transportation grants is about to be redrawn. Every major surface program created by the 2021 infrastructure law expires on September 30, 2026, and the House bill written to replace it would keep some programs, restructure others, and repeal several outright. If you run a city, county, transit agency, tribe, or metropolitan planning organization, the program you were planning to apply to next year may not exist in its current form.

That is the part most “list of transportation grants” articles miss. The question right now is not just which programs exist — it is which ones are funded today and which are sitting on the chopping block. This piece maps both, so you can move money-now applications to the front of the line.

The September 30 Deadline Reshaping Every Program

The IIJA did something unusual: it served as both an authorization and an appropriations act, providing $476.2 billion in authorized funding alongside roughly $156 billion in advance appropriations from the general fund. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, both the trust-fund authorizations and those advance appropriations lapse on September 30, 2026 unless Congress acts. The Federal Transit Administration’s public transportation program alone was authorized at about $108 billion across FY2022–FY2026, the Congressional Research Service reports, and it expires on the same date.

History says a clean, on-time replacement is unlikely. The CRS notes that every surface transportation bill since 1991 has needed short-term extensions before a successor passed — twelve extensions after TEA-21, ten after SAFETEA-LU. That matters for applicants because an extension freezes program rules in place temporarily, while a new bill can rewrite eligibility, match requirements, and which programs survive at all. The safe assumption for the next 12 months is uncertainty, not continuity.

What’s Still Open Right Now

Several flagship discretionary programs ran their FY2026 rounds and continue to award money. BUILD (the program formerly branded RAISE) offered about $1.5 billion for surface transportation projects with significant local or regional impact, and the FY2026 BUILD Notice of Funding Opportunity set aside at least 5% of funds — $75 million — for planning, preparation, and design work, with a minimum capital project size of $5 million in urban areas.

The biggest safety pot is Safe Streets and Roads for All. The U.S. Department of Transportation reports SS4A has delivered $3.9 billion to more than 2,000 communities since 2022, including $982 million awarded to 521 communities on December 23, 2025. The FY2026 round made $993,488,194 available before closing on May 26, 2026 — $687.8 million for Implementation Grants (40–70 awards of $2.5 million to $25 million) and $305.7 million for Planning and Demonstration Grants (400–700 awards of $100,000 to $5 million), per the program’s official funding notice. SS4A is listed under Assistance Listing 20.939.

Freight-heavy and large-scale projects have their own lane. The INFRA program (Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects) funds work of national or regional significance at roughly $2.7 billion combined across recent fiscal years, with INFRA dollars covering up to 60% of project costs and total federal assistance capped at 80%. It is the program to watch if your project is a major freight corridor, port connector, or interchange rather than a local street safety fix.

On the transit side, Federal Transit Administration formula and discretionary programs — Urbanized Area Formula, State of Good Repair, Capital Investment Grants, Bus and Bus Facilities, and Low or No Emission — are still flowing FY2026 dollars. If you are starting from scratch, the cleanest way to see what is live is to scan a current opportunity feed rather than a static blog list; OpenGrants’ grant search database tracks active federal notices as they post.

The Programs on the Chopping Block

This is where the reauthorization fight becomes concrete. In May 2026 the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced the BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870), a roughly $474 billion guaranteed five-year package sponsored by Chair Sam Graves and Ranking Member Rick Larsen. As Government Market News documented, the bill repeals several IIJA-era programs outright:

• National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program — the EV-charging build-out fund.
• Carbon Reduction Program — formula money for projects that cut transportation emissions.
• Neighborhood Access and Equity grants — funding to reconnect communities divided by past infrastructure.
• Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program — dedicated bike and pedestrian network funding.

The bill simultaneously expands others, putting about $50 billion toward bridges over five years — the largest bridge investment ever in a surface bill — and creating a new competitive Bridge Completion Program for awards of at least $50 million. The takeaway for applicants is not that transportation funding is shrinking; it is that the mix is shifting away from climate, equity, and EV-charging lines and toward roads and bridges. If your project depends on a program in the repeal column, treat the current cycle as possibly your last shot under existing rules, and read our federal grants overview for how appropriations timing affects open windows.

How the Money Actually Reaches You

Federal transportation grants split into two channels, and confusing them is the most common reason a promising project never gets funded. Formula funds are apportioned to state DOTs and transit agencies by statutory formula; you usually access them by getting your project into the state’s plan, not by applying to Washington. Discretionary grants like BUILD and SS4A are awarded competitively by USDOT directly to eligible applicants — cities, counties, transit agencies, tribes, and metropolitan planning organizations.

Three mechanics trip people up. First, match: most competitive programs require a 20% non-federal share, though SS4A planning grants can be funded up to 100% federal and rural BUILD projects can reach full federal share. Second, the portal: USDOT now runs several programs through the Valid Eval platform rather than grants.gov — the opportunity is posted on grants.gov, but the application is submitted elsewhere, and missing that detail has cost applicants entire cycles. Third, registration: you need an active Unique Entity Identifier from SAM.gov, which can take up to 30 days to issue, so it cannot be a last-week task. Because much of this money is administered through states, it is worth understanding the parallel state-level grant landscape that controls formula dollars.

What to Do Before the Rules Change

Sequence your effort around the cliff. Projects that fit a program in the repeal column — EV charging, carbon reduction, active transportation, community reconnection — should be packaged and submitted in the current cycle, because a 2027 successor program may not exist or may carry different eligibility. Projects that fit roads, bridges, and safety are safer bets across the transition and can be staged over a longer runway.

Build the slow pieces now regardless of which program you target. A competitive BUILD or implementation-grade SS4A application needs a benefit-cost analysis, completed or near-complete environmental review, a documented local match, and letters of support from your state DOT and elected officials. RAISE/BUILD drew over 4,000 applications for FY2026 against roughly $1.5 billion, a success rate in the single digits, so a shovel-ready project with clean readiness documentation is what separates funded from rejected.

Watch the reauthorization text as it moves, because the structure of the next bill changes the math. The House version guarantees about $474.4 billion through Highway Trust Fund contract authority and leaves roughly $106 billion dependent on future annual appropriations — a departure from the IIJA, which front-loaded about $184 billion in upfront general-fund money. Programs that survive but shift from guaranteed funding to “subject to appropriations” become less reliable year to year, even if they keep their names. Knowing which bucket your target program lands in tells you how aggressively to pursue it now versus next cycle. If your team does not have grant-writing capacity in-house, OpenGrants’ managed grant writing services can build the narrative and benefit-cost package while you focus on project scoping.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are federal transportation grants going away in 2026?

No — but the program lineup is changing. The IIJA’s surface programs expire September 30, 2026, and Congress must pass a new bill or an extension. Funding will continue in some form, but the House BUILD America 250 Act would repeal specific programs (NEVI, Carbon Reduction, Neighborhood Access and Equity, Active Transportation) while expanding bridge funding. The total dollars are not disappearing; the mix is shifting.

What is the difference between BUILD, RAISE, and INFRA grants?

BUILD and RAISE are the same program under different administration-era brand names; it funds surface transportation projects with local or regional impact and offered about $1.5 billion in FY2026. INFRA targets nationally significant freight and highway projects at a larger scale, roughly $2.7 billion combined across recent fiscal years. Both are competitive discretionary programs run by USDOT.

Who can apply for SS4A grants?

Eligible applicants include metropolitan planning organizations, counties, cities, towns, special districts, certain transit agencies, and federally recognized tribal governments. The program funds Planning and Demonstration Grants to build a safety action plan and Implementation Grants to carry out projects from an existing plan. The FY2026 round closed May 26, 2026; future rounds depend on reauthorization.

How much local match do transportation grants require?

Most discretionary programs require a 20% non-federal match. There are exceptions: SS4A planning grants can be 100% federally funded, rural BUILD projects may qualify for up to full federal share, and INFRA caps total federal assistance at 80%. The match generally cannot come from other federal funds unless a statute specifically allows it.

Should I wait for the new transportation bill before applying?

Generally no. Congress rarely replaces a surface transportation law on time, so waiting risks a funding gap filled only by short-term extensions. If your project fits a program slated for repeal, apply now under current rules. If it fits a program likely to survive or grow, build your application package now so you are ready the moment the next notice posts.

Bottom Line

The smartest move on transportation grants right now is to read the calendar, not just the catalog. The dollars are still substantial — nearly $1 billion in SS4A and $1.5 billion in BUILD this cycle alone — but the September 30, 2026 expiration and the House repeal list mean the menu you apply to next year may look different. Sort your projects into “fits a program being cut” and “fits a program likely to survive,” and push the at-risk applications through the current cycle while the window is open.

If you want to keep a live eye on which federal notices are posting and which are about to close as reauthorization plays out, follow our industry news coverage and search active opportunities in the OpenGrants funding database — then get your match documentation and benefit-cost analysis built before the deadline, not after.