RCP Additional Guidance

This page provides additional information specific to the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, including eligible applicants and activities for Community Planning and Capital Construction applications. 

What is an Eligible Facility?  

Highway or other surface transportation facility, including a road, street, parkway, or rail line, that creates a barrier to community connectivity, including barriers to mobility, access, or economic development due to high speeds, grade separations, or other design factors.   

Funding Available 

Planning Grants 

Planning grants may be used to study the feasibility and impacts of removing, retrofitting, or mitigating an existing eligible facility or to conduct planning activities necessary to design a project to remove, retrofit, or mitigate an existing eligible facility. 

Who is eligible to apply for planning grant funding? 

• States 
• Units of local government 
• Federally recognized Tribal governments 
• Metropolitan planning organizations 
• Nonprofit organizations 

Eligible planning activities 

1. Public engagement activities, including community visioning or other place-based strategies for public input and meaningful involvement into project plans.  
2. Planning studies to assess the feasibility of removing, retrofitting, or mitigating an existing eligible facility to reconnect communities, including assessments of:   
   • Current traffic patterns on the facility and the surrounding street network.    
   • Capacity of existing transportation networks to maintain mobility needs.  
   • Alternative roadway designs or other uses for the right-of-way.  
   • The project’s impact on mobility of freight and people.  
   • The project’s impact on safety.  
   • The estimated cost to restore community connectivity and to convert the facility to a different design or use, compared to any expected maintenance or reconstruction costs.   
   • The project’s anticipated economic impact and development opportunities.  
   • The project’s environmental, public health, and community impacts.  
3. Other planning activities in advance of the project, such as:   
   • Conceptual and preliminary engineering, or design and planning studies that support the environmental review for a construction project.   
   • Associated needs such as locally-driven land use and zoning reform, transit-oriented development, housing supply, in particular affordable housing, managing gentrification and neighborhood change, proposed project impact mitigation, climate resilience and sustainability, green and open space, local history and culture, access and mobility barriers, jobs and workforce, or other necessary planning activities as put forth by the applicant that do not result in construction.  

Capital Construction Grants  

Capital construction grants may be used for projects for which all necessary studies and other planning activities have been completed to remove, retrofit, mitigate, or to replace an existing eligible facility.  

Who is eligible to apply for capital construction grant funding?  

Eligible applicants for Capital Construction Grants are: 

• The Facility Owner or 
• Eligible applicants to Planning Grants may submit the application for a Capital Construction Grant if the Owner of the eligible transportation facility is a joint applicant, with evidence of endorsing the application.  

Eligible capital construction projects 

Eligible projects include those for which adequate planning activities, such as engaging with the public to understand the public’s needs and interests, evaluating relevant data, and/or developing a conceptual design have been completed. Projects must be consistent with the Long-Range Statewide Transportation Plan, included in the Metropolitan Long-Range Plan (if applicable), and in the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and / or Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), Tribal Transportation Improvement Program (TTIP) or equivalent, as applicable, prior to the obligation of the award. Transit projects must be included in the investment prioritization of the relevant Transit Asset Management (TAM) Plan by the time of the obligation of the award.  

Eligible construction grant activities include:  

• Preliminary and detailed design activities and associated environmental studies. 
• Preconstruction and construction activities. 
• Permitting activities including the completion of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. 
• The removal, retrofit, or mitigation of an eligible facility. 
• The replacement of an eligible facility with a new facility that restores community connectivity.  
• Meaningful public involvement throughout the project delivery process. 
• The delivering of community benefits and the mitigation of impacts identified through the NEPA process or other planning and project development for the capital construction project. 

If you wish to receive updates about the program, sign up for email updates. 

You may send questions to ReconnectingCommunities@dot.gov.