PROTECT Discretionary Grant Program Fact Sheet –  “The vision of the PROTECT Discretionary Grant Program is to fund projects that address the climate crisis by improving the resilience of the surface transportation system, including highways, public transportation, ports, and intercity passenger rail. Projects selected under this program should be grounded in the best available scientific understanding of climate change risks, impacts, and vulnerabilities. They should support the continued operation or rapid recovery of crucial local, regional, or national surface transportation facilities. Furthermore, selected projects should utilize innovative and collaborative approaches to risk reduction, including the use of natural infrastructure, which is explicitly eligible under the program. Also called nature-based solutions, these strategies include conservation, restoration, or construction of riparian and streambed treatments, marshes, wetlands, native vegetation, stormwater bioswales, breakwaters, reefs, dunes, and shade trees. They reduce flood risks, erosion, wave damage, and heat impacts while also creating habitat, filtering pollutants, and providing recreational benefits. Projects in the PROTECT Discretionary Grant Program have the potential to demonstrate innovation and best practices that State and local governments in other parts of the country can consider replicating.”

“FY 2022 & 2023 Grant Award Recipients – For FY2022 & 2023, the PROTECT Discretionary Grant Program awarded $829.6 million in grant funding to 80 recipients to fund projects that address the climate crisis by improving the resilience of the surface transportation system. The awards are located across 37 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and include seven Tribal projects.”