rom the depths of the Great Recession in 2009, a conduit of federal funding has plugged municipalities and tribes into a pot of money for transportation infrastructure. Prior to the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program, US Department of Transportation (USDOT) grants were reserved mainly for states or transit agencies.

The program known as TIGER was rebranded in 2017 as BUILD, or Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development. Another rebranding followed in 2021, when it became the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant program. In that form, Alaska communities tapped into funding for highways and ports.

Alaska is expected to receive more than $47 million from the latest round of RAISE grants to invest in critical transportation projects. Some of those are shovel ready, but others might see additional bureaucratic hurdles before the money can be spent.

Although mainly for local-level projects, the RAISE program does not shut out state governments when they are part of multi-jurisdictional applications and for disadvantaged communities. That’s how the State of Alaska qualified for a grant. In July 2023, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities secured a $25 million RAISE grant for the Shakwak Project, which will revitalize the highway corridor within Canada that connects Alaska to the Lower 48.

The project focus is a 128-mile stretch north of Destruction Bay on Kluane Lake to address roadway maintenance, emergency preparedness, and safety features. The location in a designated rural area made the project eligible.

By the terms of a 1976 international agreement, the United States pays for the work in Canada. The project cost is $37.6 million, and the biggest portion of the funding comes from the RAISE grant. Another $12.6 million comes from the state’s share of the federal highway funding formula.

Two RAISE grants were also awarded to sites earmarked as areas of persistent poverty or historically disadvantaged communities.

Kawerak, the tribal nonprofit for the Norton Sound region, received $16 million to construct roads for the future relocation of homes and buildings affected by flooding in Golovin. The project, which is expected to begin construction in March 2027, will help to relocate the entire village out of the 500-year floodplain that is increasingly threatened by sea level rise and extreme weather events.

In addition to improving the quality of life by reducing climate-related threats to Golovin, the relocation is meant to improve public health and general safety. The site will also provide wider roadways, with pathways adjacent to new roads.

Bristol Bay Native Association was awarded a rural planning grant of $3 million to evaluate road, rail, and water routes that could connect thirty-one Bristol Bay communities, the Alaska Marine Highway System, or possibly the state’s surface highways.

The grant will help identify year-round travel routes to provide access for critical emergency services and help residents reach essential services, job and education opportunities, healthcare, and more. The project is also expected to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by shifting freight to lower-carbon travel modes.

The grant will fund a community-driven planning study that will include a desktop data review, geotechnical report, mapping and land status, environmental analysis, cost estimation, economic analysis, public involvement, alternative analysis, and final project reporting. Time will tell exactly what form the transportation links among Bristol Bay villages might take.

At the end of the road, Homer needs a new beginning for its surface transportation. The City of Homer was awarded a $2 million planning grant for safety improvements along the Sterling Highway and its adjacent arterial routes and busy connector roads serving the central business district, state-owned airport, and working waterfront.

“Homer’s rate of serious pedestrian injury exceeds the national average, with 86 percent of crashes in the city involving pedestrians on narrow, high-traffic volume roads with minimal shoulders,” says Jenny Carroll, the city’s special projects and communications coordinator. “These dangerous conditions force pedestrians to share space with not just cars but semi-trucks, side-dumpers, and boat trailers. The planning and design activities will target improvements delivering maximum public safety return.”

Homer applied for RAISE funds in FY 2023 and finally won the grant for FY 2025. The project builds on prior public engagement, and systemwide planning will prioritize routes for completing permitting, utility investigation, benefit-cost analysis, and 75 percent design for selected routes.

“Previous and robust transportation planning in the community have identified several critical incomplete street priorities, considering crash history and traffic volumes,” Carroll says. The preconstruction funds help Homer advance the most critical projects to shovel-ready status.

“The city has made safe, complete streets a goal since developing our first non-motorized transportation plan in 2004 through today, when the city is completing a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan in coordination with the Kenai Peninsula Borough,” Carroll says.

Beyond safety, Homer expects an economic boost by better connecting local businesses, multi-modal transportation infrastructure, and tourist destinations.

With a $13 million rural capital RAISE grant, the City of Nome plans to dredge approximately seven acres at the Snake River Moorage Facility and add approximately 1,700 feet of floating dock. The project, which is expected to begin construction in June 2026, will also develop a portion of the shoreline to include a bulkhead at the Port of Nome.

According to Port Director Joy Baker, the goal is to push lighter-draft vessels to the new river facility, improving safety at the small boat harbor.

“Our goal is to reduce incidents and accidents caused by overcrowding and congestion with all vessel types, large and small, operating in the same small space,” she explains. “The City of Nome will also receive increased business and job opportunities by expanding port facilities and generating more maritime commerce.”

The Snake River Moorage Facility project has been a goal for Nome since 2015, yet it is not quite ready for construction. “Right now, we are waiting for USDOT staff to confirm pre-award requirements in order to execute a grant agreement,” Baker says. “At that point, we will contract with our engineering team to finalize the conceptual design and update permitting.”

The project includes dredging the footprint, constructing the shoreline with armor stone and sheet pile, developing uplands, and purchasing and installing floating docks. In addition to the $13 million RAISE grant, there is a match component of $3.3 million, which is expected to be made up of city funds and other partnering funds that are being actively pursued.

“Right now, we are hopeful that the grant agreement, conceptual design, and update permitting are completed by October 2025, when we will go out to bid with hopes of completing most of the work in 2026,” says Baker. “The floating docks would be shipped and installed in 2027, with an estimated final completion date of September 15, 2027.”

Construction is set to start this summer in Petersburg, where the borough was awarded a rural capital grant of $8.8 million to improve the Scow Bay small vessel haul-out area. The project will build a new ramp in deeper water, add a dedicated boarding float, install a wash-down pad, connect utilities to the haul-out, and extend the existing breakwater.

Petersburg Borough intends the haul-out project to improve environmental sustainability by reducing waterborne pollution through a dedicated haul-out with a washdown pad, filtration system, proactive storm water management, and pollution prevention system. The new haul-out will be constructed at a previously filled shoreline location to minimize shoreline impacts.

Scow Bay currently utilizes an old concrete ramp originally built for seaplanes that depends heavily on the tides because of its shallow slope, making it useable for only a few hours a day. For this reason, local users often take their vessels to another town for out-of-water work.

While Round 1 communities have already been notified of their grants, there may be a delay in implementation, and not just because the RAISE program is no more, at least in name. As of February, the returning Trump administration revived the BUILD branding. Then in March, all projects without fully obligated grant agreements or cooperative agreements were paused to undergo review to align with the Trump administration’s executive orders on climate, energy, diversity, and equity projects.

Homer’s road planning grant, announced in January, is among those subject to agency review. Carroll says, “The project delivers clear public safety value and economic benefits, and we are hopeful that federal officials will recognize the life-saving and economic benefits of these improvements as they complete their review process.”

In the Pribilof Islands, the City of Saint Paul is likewise in limbo, waiting for the US DOGE Service to review a rural planning grant of $4 million to make improvements to Saint Paul Harbor. These include changes to the Harbor Road, docks, piers, mooring capacity, and harbormaster’s office.

“A number of years ago, we received a grant from the [US] Economic Development Administration to undertake a feasibility study focusing on harbor improvements and expansion,” explains City Manager Phillip A. Zavadil. “Now that the study has been completed, we’ve been trying to find money for the design and construction of what was recommended in the study.”

The project, also funded by a grant from the USDOT Port Infrastructure Development Program, will improve safety by removing the North Dock and piers and installing berthing dolphins that are in line with the South Dock, with access ramps to the dolphins so vessels can safely moor and access the shore. These improvements will also allow more than just fishing vessels to use the harbor and make it less dependent on a single fishery.

“We’re also planning to relocate the harbormaster’s office, which is currently located below the main breakwater, to another location within the harbor,” Zavadil explains. “During intense storms, waves crash over the top of the breakwater, on the office, and this move will prevent the building from sustaining more damage as well as increase visibility into all areas of the harbor.”

He adds that upgrades to Harbor Road, including rerouting part of it, will help improve traffic flow and make it safer for heavy equipment.

“This road was never designed for heavy equipment traffic, and due to climate change and warming temperatures, we’re seeing muddy, soft spots in the road,” says Zavadil. “All of our large items, including fuel and construction items, come by barge and are transferred from there using heavy equipment.”

The $4 million grant will cover benefit/cost analysis, all National Environmental Policy Act requirements and environmental permitting, as well as 65 percent of the design on the harbormaster’s office.

“The idea is to set us up to apply for another grant to finish up the design and actually do the construction,” says Zavadil. “We’re looking forward to getting funded and getting started.”

By the time the RAISE money is spent, Saint Paul and other communities will be facing the next round of BUILD grants.