By Briant Novinska-Lois
Competitive federal transportation grants are reaching communities without political bias, but a technical capacity gap is leaving under-resourced areas behind. A recent study analyzing federal grant awards from 2021 to 2023 shows that project merit and local community need were the main driving factors rather than political party alignment. However, researchers found that communities with the highest economic and social needs often lack the staff and experience needed to submit winning grant applications.
To measure fairness, researchers in the study evaluated discretionary grant programs administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The results show that political alignment with the presidential administration did not determine total funding success. Instead, allocation patterns reflected local infrastructure demands and program design. Republican-leaning states won a larger number of smaller grants concentrated in rural areas, tribal lands, and local airports. Democratic-leaning states received fewer total grants but secured higher dollar amounts for large capital projects in urban passenger rail and public transit.
However, these study findings cover only the program’s first three years. Federal transportation policy has shifted since, with the current administration slowing or withholding funds for deprioritized programs like public transit and electric vehicle charging. Major programs have stalled without new signed agreements, and attempts to freeze transit funding have prompted lawsuits and court orders forcing officials to release the money.
The study’s most critical findings explain why demonstrating community needs are not enough to win federal funding. Federal scoring rules give extra consideration to projects in historically disadvantaged communities. However, application success depends heavily on prior grant writing experience and administrative capacity. Highly experienced state and local agencies consistently write stronger proposals and win more awards. This creates a catch-22 called the “capacity paradox”—communities most in need require technical capacity to win competitive grants, but their lack of resources prevents them from gaining that experience in the first place.
For transportation leaders and public officials, the main lesson is that expanding competitive grant programs is not enough to guarantee equal access to public funds. Centralized grant systems can successfully distribute money based on project merit, but under-resourced areas will continue to fall behind without targeted help. Transportation agencies can close this gap by simplifying application rules, offering direct technical support, and providing flexible matching requirements. By pairing transparent selection criteria with hands-on capacity building, federal and state officials can ensure every community has an equal opportunity to modernize its transportation networks.
Photo credit: Tom Shamberger: via Pexels. License.