Protecting Infrastructure Investments for Rural America Act
The Protecting Infrastructure Investments for Rural America Act would broaden the rural surface transportation grant program in 23 U.S.C. §173 to explicitly include and prioritize very small rural communities. It creates a formal definition of “small community” (an area outside an urbanized area with 5,000 or fewer people) and expands eligibility and funding mechanisms to ensure these communities receive a meaningful share of program resources. Key changes include lowering certain population thresholds for eligibility, adding purposes focused on rural economic growth and quality of life, expanding the types of eligible projects to include infrastructure that supports local development, and establishing favorable funding terms for small communities (a federal share cap of up to 90% and a minimum annual 5% funding set-aside for small communities). In short, the bill seeks to make rural transportation grants more accessible to very small towns and rural areas, increase federal cost-sharing for projects in those areas, and require a dedicated portion of funding to be used for eligible small-community projects.
Key Points
- 1Defines and protects funding for “small communities” as areas outside urbanized areas with 5,000 or fewer people; also lowers an eligibility threshold to 30,000 or less for a related criterion, broadening rural eligibility.
- 2Expands the program’s purpose to explicitly include generating economic growth and development in rural areas and improving the quality of life for rural residents and small communities.
- 3Adds to eligible project types a focus on highway, road, bridge, or tunnel projects that would benefit economic development or quality of life in the community where the project is located.
- 4Creates a dedicated federal funding framework for small communities:
- 5- The federal share for projects in small communities may not exceed 90 percent.
- 6- The Secretary must use not less than 5 percent of program funds each fiscal year for grants to eligible small-community projects.
- 7Reorganizes and renumbers certain sections of the rural grant program to accommodate the new small-community framework and funding rules.