SMART Grants Program

Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART)

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) established the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) discretionary grant program with $100 million appropriated annually for fiscal years (FY) 2022-2026.

The SMART program was established to provide grants to eligible public sector agencies to conduct demonstration projects focused on advanced smart community technologies and systems in order to improve transportation efficiency and safety.

SMART is a two-stage program. Stage 1(up to $2,000,000 dollars and 18 months) grants are open for any eligible entity to apply. Recipients of Stage 1 grants will be eligible to expand their projects through Stage 2 grants (up to $15,000,000 and 36 months). Applicants must have received a Stage 1 grant to apply to Stage 2.

The FY24 Stage 2 NOFO is now closed

Only recipients of Stage 1 grants, or their designees, were eligible to apply for Stage 2.

The FY24 Stage 2 NOFO closed at 5:00pm ET on August 14th. The NOFO text can be found here. It can also be found on Grants.gov.

USDOT Holds Second SMART Grantee Summit

On July 10th and 11th, 2024, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) held its second SMART Grantee Summit for the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants program. The Summit was held at the Volpe Center in Cambridge, MA with over 220 participants in attendance, including USDOT leadership and 83 SMART grant recipients from 39 states.

All grant recipients selected from the Fiscal Year 2022 and 2023 Stage 1 Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) were invited to participate in the 2-day event. Awardees from over 83 project teams attended, representing most of the $148 million in grant awards. Project teams included representatives from the lead applicants as well as their project partners.

A large number of people in business attire stand and sit around a wide staircase, speaking and eating

Three people in suits seated on a stage, speaking into a microphone

The FY24 Stage 1 NOFO is now closed.

The application window for the FY24 Stage 1 NOFO is now closed. Applications were due July 12th at 5 PM ET. Late applications will not be accepted.

To view the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), click here. The NOFO is also posted on G rants.gov . USDOT anticipates this will be the final Stage 1 NOFO of the SMART Grants Program.

A webinar on How to Apply for the FY24 Stage 1 SMART Grant NOFO was held on May 28th, 2024, at 1pm ET. A recording is available under Application Webinars.

SMART projects demonstrate at least one of eight technology areas: