MEGA Grant Analysis
February 17, 2023
Written by Tom Nally, Senior Advisor
Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced that nine projects received about $1.2 billion through the new Mega Grant Program created by the bipartisan infrastructure law. The infrastructure law provided about $1.0 billion in funding per year, and we expect four more such award cycles over the next four years. A recent article “DOT Selects $1.2 Billion in Megaproject Awards for FY22 Cycle” written by the Eno Center for Transportation describes the process and outcome of the evaluation of applications for the USDOT Mega Grant Program.
A review panel of career staff at USDOT reviewed some 138 applications. Nine applicants received grants. Seven applicants were rated highly recommended but not funded. Thirteen were given a recommended rating and not funded. Fourteen applications were not recommended for funding, including two Massachusetts projects: The Bourne & Sagamore Bridge Replacement Project and the I-90 Allston At-Grade Multimodal Project (identified as the I-90 Realignment project in the Eno article).
The USDOT evaluation team determined the Bourne and Sagamore Bridge replacement did not meet statutory requirements for: 1) stable and dependable sources of non-federal funding and financing to construct, operate, and maintain the project and to cover any cost increases; and 2) sufficient legal, financial, and technical capacity to carry out the project. The I-90 Allston At-Grade Multimodal Project also fell short on these two requirements and fell short on 3) cost effectiveness.
The Eno report said, “…if the lack of cost-effectiveness is fundamental to the project, it’s hard to see how that gets overcome” for subsequent application cycles. Clearly, Massachusetts has its work cut out for it to help better position these two key megaprojects for the second round of funding applications, which are expected to due and or about May of this year.
