The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) has advanced the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250th Act (BUILD America 250 Act). The five-year surface transportation reauthorization, estimated at about $580 billion, now heads toward the House floor ahead of the Sept. 30 expiration of current federal authorities.
Sponsored by Committee Chair Sam Graves, R-Mo., along with Ranking Member Rick Larsen, D-Wash., the measure would replace the surface transportation provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021. The new bill reshapes federal priorities around highway and bridge funding, automated commercial vehicles and a new Highway Trust Fund revenue stream tied to electric vehicles.
Of the bill’s $580 billion total, $474.4 billion is guaranteed through Highway Trust Fund contract authority, while about $106 billion depends on future annual appropriations. This marks a departure from the IIJA, which set aside about $184 billion in upfront general fund money for transportation programs.
Highway funding under the BUILD America 250 Act flows through two channels. The first is formula funding, which is distributed automatically to states based on set criteria like population, road miles and fuel use. The second is discretionary funding, which agencies and local governments compete for through project-specific grant applications.
The bill leans heavily on the formula side, with about 90% of highway dollars routed to states through guaranteed allocations and the remaining 10% reserved for competitive and allocated programs. Highway formula funding itself would grow modestly, with about a 3% increase in the first year and smaller bumps in later years.
Several IIJA-era programs are also repealed in the new bill, including the Carbon Reduction Program, the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure formula program, the Neighborhood Access and Equity grant program and the Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program.
Committee leaders have called the bill the largest federal bridge investment ever included in a surface transportation reauthorization, putting about $50 billion toward bridge work over five years. Most of the funding, $9.2 billion a year, would flow through a renamed Grants for Rebuilding America’s Vital Engineering Structures formula program. The remaining $2 billion a year would go to a new Bridge Completion Program for competitive grants of at least $50 million.
The bill would also create the first major new funding source for the Highway Trust Fund in more than 30 years, introducing federal registration fees of $130 on electric vehicles and $35 on plug-in hybrids. The IIJA, in comparison, relied on general fund transfers and a one-time $118 billion infusion to keep the trust fund solvent through 2026.
The bill also lays out the first federal framework for automated commercial trucks, an area the IIJA left largely to state laws and one-off federal exemptions. The Department of Transportation would have two years to set safety standards for trucks equipped with automated driving systems, with manufacturers required to submit documentation showing how each system is designed to operate safely, where it can be used and how it is protected from cyberattacks. The bill also creates a new workforce grant program, starting at $27.5 million in fiscal year 2027 (FY27), to help train drivers on the technology.
In another significant departure from current law, transit and passenger rail would see the largest pullback under the new legislation. Combined funding for the two modes is estimated to land about 20% below IIJA levels over the five-year period.
Transit appropriations would grow modestly, from about $16.9 billion in FY27 to $18.2 billion in FY31, alongside $3 billion a year for Capital Investment Grants. Amtrak would receive between $1.95 billion and $2.19 billion annually for the Northeast Corridor and between $3.9 billion and $4.39 billion annually for its National Network.
By comparison, IIJA directed about $108 billion to public transportation and $102 billion to rail over its five-year run, the latter being one of the largest federal rail investments in decades.
Beyond funding levels, the bill includes a number of reforms meant to speed up project delivery. One of the more notable changes would raise the cost threshold for major project oversight from $500 million to $1 billion. That means fewer projects would be subject to the more intensive federal financial reviews currently required for large builds.
The bill also directs the Federal Highway Administration to issue guidance within 90 days of enactment on how states can write clearer contracts, attract more bidders and spot signs of anticompetitive bidding on federal-aid projects.
On the environmental side, the legislation is meant to streamline how projects move through review under the National Environmental Policy Act. It would expand the use of categorical exclusions, which allow certain routine projects to bypass full environmental reviews, along with raising the dollar thresholds that qualify projects for that faster track. The bill would also cap environmental impact statements at 150 pages and environmental assessments at 75 pages.
A separate provision would extend a program that lets states take on federal environmental review responsibilities themselves, opening it up to more transit agencies.
Committee leaders plan to move the bill to the House floor ahead of the Sept. 30 expiration of current surface transportation authorities, with most provisions set to take effect Oct. 1, 2026. Senate action and reconciliation with any Senate-passed reauthorization remain pending.
Photo by Chris from Pexels
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