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T&I Member Designated Projects

Member Designated Projects for Highways and Transit Projects

The office of Congressman Paul Tonko will accept requests for Member Designated Projects for Highways and Transit projects through the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s surface transportation reauthorization legislation. Through the Committee’s program, Members of Congress will be able to request funding for specific projects in their districts to serve the public good.

The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure intends to fund Member Designated Projects on a limited basis. Capital projects included on a State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) or a designated metropolitan area’s Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) are eligible for funding. Projects included on the STIP or TIP already have been certified as eligible for Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding and do not require further verification of eligibility.

For projects not on the STIP or TIP, the Committee will require additional documentation, including:

  • Verification whether the project can be added to the STIP or TIP in a reasonable timeframe if the funding request is included in the legislation;
  • Whether the project is on a long-range transportation plan; and
  • Verification of eligibility for the proposed activity under title 23 or chapter 53 of title 49 by the relevant federal agency.

The new Member Designated Project program is being implemented with accountability measures to ensure a responsible and transparent process. The Committee has made it clear that there is limited funding for the projects and subsequently the office will not be able to accommodate every request received. Further, all Member Designated Project submissions are required to be posted online to ensure full transparency. Therefore, all information submitted by a requesting organization should be considered public information. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will also establish an online, searchable public database of all Member Designated Project requests received by the Committee.

Only eligible requests that meet all the guidelines established by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will be accepted and considered:

  • Documentation that the project is on the State, Tribal, or territorial transportation improvement program (STIP); and on the metropolitan transportation improvement program (TIP), if applicable
    Sources of funding for the full share of the cost of the project beyond the amount requested
  • Letter(s) of support from the State department of transportation, or local government, transit agency, or other non-Federal sponsor
  • A description of the process that has been or will be followed to provide an opportunity for public comment on the project
  • Project phase (e.g. Planning, Final Design, Construction)
  • NEPA category of action (e.g. Categorical Exclusion, Environmental Assessment, Environmental Impact Statement)
  • Status of environmental review
  • Whether the project has received Federal funding previously, and if so, the source and amount

The deadline for submission of Member Designated Project requests is Tuesday April 20, 2021 at 6:00 PM EST.

Required fields are followed by *.
General Project Information

Select from the dropdown menu for project type, organized by program. (If the project includes two or more modes, select “multimodal”). If the project does not fit into any listed category, please write in the project type. In order to qualify to receive designated funding, projects must be eligible under Title 23, United States Code, or Chapter 53 of Title 49, United States Code. Projects included on the STIP or TIP have been vetted and do not require further verification of eligibility. If you choose to request a project not on the STIP or TIP, further documentation will be required.

This name will be listed in legislative text and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure legislative report and should provide accurate information to identify the exact project being funded. If the project is on the STIP or TIP, or if you have other information from your state or local transportation agency or transit agency about the formal name of the project, please use that information in the project request.

Mailing Address

This must be a valid USPS address. You can use the USPS address validator to check if the address is a valid mailing address.

This can be the exact or approximate street address for the project

Sponsor Information

List the public agency that is sponsoring the project – a state DOT, MPO, transit agency, local government, territory, Tribal government or other public entity.

  • Requests for projects listed on the STIP or TIP, or in some cases the long range transportation plan, will be most successful in receiving designated funding. The Committee seeks to ensure that designated funds will be able to be obligated by an entity versed in the requirements and process of advancing a project with federal surface transportation funding. Please list only one project sponsor—the entity that will be responsible for carrying out the project. Not-for-profit organizations should coordinate with a public entity that is an eligible recipient of federal-aid funds under Title 23 or Chapter 53 of Title 49.

Provide a name, phone number, and email for a point of contact at the public agency that is sponsoring the project.

Specific Project Information

Including a description of the project. Please include a link to additional project information, if available. Max 1,000 characters.

  • If the project is on the STIP or TIP, the description of the project as listed on those documents should be incorporated. If the project has a project website, please include a link. In listing project benefits, please include any benefits, if applicable, to help advance the goals of the surface transportation authorization legislation.

Please provide the amount of funding requested for the project. The requested amount may not exceed the federal share allowable under highway and transit programs, which is typically 80 percent of the project cost. However, there are exceptions to this standard.

  • More information is here for FHWA projects and here for FTA projects. In addition to identifying non-federal match, the Committee is requiring that project requests identify all funds necessary for the project in addition to the requested amount, to ensure the project can advance in a reasonable timeframe.
  • The Committee will not designate funding for projects for which the requested amount represents a portion of the project costs, without the remainder of funding identified.

Provide the total project cost. This information must come from your state DOT, local transportation agency, transit agency, territory, Tribal government, or other project sponsor. Please check the STIP or TIP for this amount.

In addition to the statutory requirements for non-federal match, if the requested amount plus the non-federal match does not fully make up the total project cost, the Committee is requiring that projects have funds identified for the project outside of the requested amount. This requirement is to ensure the project can advance in a reasonable timeframe and that designated funds do not sit unspent.

  • Additional amounts may come from federal funding, such as FHWA formula funding, provided that the total amount of federal funding does not exceed the allowable federal cost share. Acknowledgement of the availability of this funding for this purpose by your state DOT or other public agency that administers this funding is required. All funding does not have to be “in the bank” at the time of the request, but the specific sources must be identified and reasonably expected to be available within the obligation window. The STIP or TIP is the easiest way to identify project funding. If a project is on the STIP or TIP, funding reasonably expected to be available is sufficient to ensure the project is obligated within the period of availability for the project funding. If you choose to request a project not on the STIP or TIP, it is the responsibility of the requesting office to demonstrate identified funding to the Committee, and commitment by the transportation agency that controls the identified funding to use those funds on the project. The Committee will not designate funding for projects for which the requested amount represents a portion of the project costs, without the remainder of funding identified.


Documents must be the following file types: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt
All documents must be less than 500kb total.
Macintosh users: Your document must have a file extension. Resave it using your word processor with the appropriate extension from the above list.

In the case of a funding request limited to planning, the project sponsor must commit to moving the project through the planning phase. All applicable transportation planning and environmental review processes will still apply to the project phase. Note that a funding request for preconstruction that seeks to artificially narrow the scope of alternatives considered or to advance one alternative over other reasonable alternatives would not comply with the requirements of NEPA. See 40 CFR 1506.1(a)(2).

The requesting office should work with the project sponsor to identify this information.

These options are recognized phases of the environmental review process carried out to satisfy NEPA. The requesting office should work with the project sponsor to identify this information. If other is selected, please verify with the project sponsor to ensure use of the correct term.

Projects that are on an approved STIP or TIP that have been through public comment do not need to solicit additional public comment. If the project has solicited public input as it advanced through the NEPA process, that can also be cited under this question. If the project is not on the STIP or TIP, the requesting office should identify whether the project sponsor has provided other opportunities for public input.



Documents must be the following file types: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt
All documents must be less than 500kb total.
Macintosh users: Your document must have a file extension. Resave it using your word processor with the appropriate extension from the above list.

The Committee is requiring demonstrated support from the sponsor of the project to accompany each request. The submission must be on letterhead from a public agency responsible for carrying out the project, and must include an expression of willingness to carry out the project and the ability for the funding to be obligated within the time period set forth under federal-aid highway or federal transit requirements.



Documents must be the following file types: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt
All documents must be less than 500kb total.
Macintosh users: Your document must have a file extension. Resave it using your word processor with the appropriate extension from the above list.

  • STIPs are publicly available documents and most are posted on state DOT websites. Offices may provide a link to the STIP in lieu of uploading the document. In addition to a link, the project ID number listed on the STIP should be included to confirm which project is being requested. If the project is not on the STIP, please see questions below for additional requirements. Documentation that the project is on the STIP is a clear way to document project readiness and funding availability beyond the requested amount and demonstrates that a transportation agency is ready and able to carry out a project consistent with federal requirements.


Documents must be the following file types: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt
All documents must be less than 500kb total.
Macintosh users: Your document must have a file extension. Resave it using your word processor with the appropriate extension from the above list.



Documents must be the following file types: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt
All documents must be less than 500kb total.
Macintosh users: Your document must have a file extension. Resave it using your word processor with the appropriate extension from the above list.

This question will only arise if you are requesting a project that is not on the STIP or TIP.

If the project is not on the STIP or TIP, inclusion of a project or a suite of projects on a statewide, regional, or local transportation plan will help to indicate whether the project has had a sufficient level of planning and scoping to advance in a reasonable timeframe. If the project is not on the STIP or TIP or a long-range plan, that is a likely indicator that the project may not be ready for designated funding.

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