BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE LAW FACT SHEET
METROPOLITAN, STATEWIDE AND NONMETROPOLITAN PLANNING

Program Purpose:

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, enacted as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, continues planning programs that provide funding and set procedural requirements for multimodal transportation planning in metropolitan areas and states that result in long-range plans and short-range programs of transportation investment priorities. The planning programs are jointly administered by FTA and the Federal Highway Administration.

Statutory References:

49 U.S.C. §§ 5303-5305, IIJA §§ 30002-30004

Eligible Recipients:

States and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs)

Eligible Activities:

A wide range of planning activities are eligible under this program, including:

• development of transportation plans and programs
• planning, design, and evaluation of a public transportation project
• technical studies related to public transportation

What’s Changed?

• Adds consideration of state and local housing patterns in the metropolitan planning process.
• Requires MPOs to ensure the consistency of data used in the planning process, including information used in forecasting travel demand, if more than one MPO is designated within an urbanized area.
• Permits the use of social media and other web-based tools to encourage public participation in the planning process.
• Requires MPOs to consider the equitable and proportional representation of the population of the metropolitan planning area when designating officials for the first time.
• Permits a greater than 80 percent federal share for transportation planning in certain circumstances including in lower-density or lower-income portions of metropolitan or adjoining rural areas.

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