Press Release ORANGEBURG, SC — Today, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (above) announced that the Biden-Harris Administration has awarded $22,755,600 from the RAISE discretionary grant program to an infrastructure project in South Carolina.
The RAISE grant program, expanded under the president's infrastructure law, supports communities of all sizes, with half of the FY2023 funding going to rural areas and the other half to urban areas. The grants are part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda that is growing the American economy from the bottom up and middle-out—from rebuilding our nation's infrastructure, to driving over $470 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States, to creating good-paying jobs and building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.
“Using the funds in President Biden's infrastructure law, we are helping communities in every state across the country realize their visions for new infrastructure projects,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “This round of RAISE grants is helping create a new generation of good-paying jobs in rural and urban communities alike, with projects whose benefits will include improving safety, fighting climate change, advancing equity, strengthening our supply chain, and more.”
This year's awarded projects will help more people get where they need to be quickly, affordably, and safely. From projects that will strengthen supply chains and reduce bottlenecks, to bridge replacements and road projects to make them safer and more efficient for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, this year's awards will build and repair infrastructure that benefits Americans for future generations to come, while taking steps to reduce emissions from the transportation sector and support wealth creation and good-paying union jobs. Seventy percent of the grants are going to projects in regions defined as an Area of Persistent Poverty or a Historically Disadvantaged Community.
Like last year, demand for RAISE funding was higher than available funds. This year, DOT received $15 billion in requests for the $2.26 billion available.
South Carolina will receive $22,755,600 for the Railroad Corner Redevelopment project. Funds for this project will be used to construct a pedestrian bridge over two state highways and railroad tracks, and a multimodal transit hub including a new public transit stop, charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and bicycles, and a public parking structure. The project will better connect residential neighborhoods and the campuses of South Carolina State University and Claflin University to the downtown Orangeburg business district and new transit hub. The project will improve pedestrian safety, provide equitable access to the City's public transit system, improve access to cultural assets and institutions of higher learning, and provide an electric vehicle charging facilities to support alternative fueling. These improvements will yield a higher quality of life for existing and future residents by attracting new businesses, industries, and tourism to the area.
The full list of projects can be viewed here.
RAISE discretionary grants help project sponsors at the State and local levels, including municipalities, Tribal governments, counties, and others complete critical freight and passenger transportation infrastructure projects that they may not have had the funding to carry out prior to passage of President Biden's infrastructure law. The eligibility requirements of RAISE allow project sponsors to obtain funding for projects that are harder to support through other U.S. DOT grant programs.
The RAISE program is one of several ways communities can secure funding for projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's competitive grant programs. This week, the Federal Transit Administration announced nearly $1.7 billion in funding through the agency's, which puts more zero-emission and low-emission buses on the road while supporting workforce training on new vehicle technologies.
The Department also published the 2023 Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant (MPDG) Program: a three-in-one grant opportunity for communities interested in funding made available through the National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) discretionary grant program, the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program (Rural), and the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program.
For more information on the RAISE program, click HERE.
