Resilient Transit Act of 2025
The Resilient Transit Act of 2025 would create a new grant program under the existing federal transit funding structure to help public transportation systems become more resilient to climate change and extreme weather. Specifically, it authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to award Public Transportation Resilience Improvement Grants (5337(g)) to state and local governments to fund projects and components that reduce vulnerability to floods, sea level rise, heat, wildfires, and other climate-related hazards. The program emphasizes equitable access, prioritizing environmental justice and underserved communities, and requires regular reporting to Congress on activities, beneficiaries, and implementation challenges. The bill also increases overall funding authority and adds a dedicated $300 million for fiscal year 2026 specifically to support these resilience grants. In practical terms, recipients could fund a wide range of measures—such as flood protection, flood detection, drainage and pumping upgrades, backup power, temperature regulation and monitoring, system vulnerability assessments, and emergency response planning—so long as they improve the resilience of public transit assets and services. The act integrates a clear focus on environmental justice considerations and provides a formal mechanism to monitor and report on which projects benefit disadvantaged areas.
Key Points
- 1Establishes a new Public Transportation Resilience Improvement Grants program (5337(g)) to finance resilience enhancements for transit systems facing climate-related risks (flooding, sea level rise, extreme weather, etc.).
- 2Defines and prioritizes environmental justice and underserved communities in grant eligibility and project consideration, using EJSCREEN and related criteria to identify vulnerable areas.
- 3Eligible activities include a broad set of resilience measures (flood mitigation, flood detection, replacement of flood-prone equipment, drainage pumping maintenance, backup power, temperature sensors, vulnerability assessments, emergency planning, and any other Secretary-approved resilience activities).
- 4Grants may fund standalone resilience projects or components of existing projects, with a specified funding formula distributing most dollars (97.15%) via the traditional allocation method and a smaller portion (2.85%) via an alternative method.
- 5Requires annual reports to Congress and public postings detailing grant activities, project benefits to disadvantaged communities, and recommendations to improve administration.
- 6Increases funding authorizations: total 5338 authority rises to $14.942 billion; the discretionary grant component (5338(a)(2)(L)) rises to $4.150 billion, and includes a new $300 million for fiscal year 2026 to carry out 5337(g).