Federal government sends $1.2 billion to 39 states for green materials for transportation construction 

There are now two months until President-elect Donald Trump takes office, but until then the Biden administration will continue to play out with a series of awards for projects funded through the Inflation Reduction Act and other legislation that passed during the current presidential term. 

On November 14, the Federal Highway Administration announced $1.2 billion in funding that will go to transportation departments in 39 states through a discretionary grant program for low carbon transportation materials. 

“The investments will support continued growth in clean American manufacturing, boosting the competitiveness of clean U.S. industries and the creation of good manufacturing jobs while reducing pollution from the production of concrete, steel, and other bedrock materials of our economy,” reads an information release. 

The idea is to incentivize the purchase of materials that require less energy to produce and thus less emission of greenhouse gasses. This is part of the Biden administration’s Federal Buy Clean initiative, an initiative not likely to be continued in the next administration. 

The Virginia Department of Transportation will receive $31,933,577 through the program in this cycle. VDOT adopted a carbon reduction strategy in November 2023 that can be accessed here.