FYs 2024 through 2026 - Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) Competitive Grant Program Notice of Funding Opportunity
Funds planning and capital projects that improve resilience of surface transportation systems, coastal infrastructure, and natural infrastructure for eligible public and tribal transportation entities.
RESTRICTED TO: STATE LOCAL GOV · TRIBAL ENTITIES
⚑ Public transportation agencies, port authorities, and MPOs may apply; Federal Land Managing Agencies may apply only jointly with a State or group of States. · Eligibility varies by project type and by the coastal-infrastructure track. · Applicant must be one of the listed eligible public entities; universities are not eligible applicants unless they fit another listed class.
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 30 weak | prototyping/demonstration stage; deep-tech content |
| IPPRA | 15 none | university cannot apply directly (ineligible) |
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 15 none | university cannot apply directly (ineligible) |
Description
The intent of the PROTECT Competitive Grant Program is to fund projects to improve the resilience of the surface transportation system, including highways, public transportation, ports, and intercity passenger rail. Program goals include protecting: surface transportation assets by making them more resilient; communities through resilience improvements and strategies that allow for the continued operation or rapid recovery of surface transportation systems; coastal infrastructure; and natural infrastructure that protects and enhances surface transportation assets.
This NOFO provides PROTECT Competitive Grant Program funding of up to $787 million from FYs 2024 through 2026, plus any remaining PROTECT Competitive Grant Program funding from prior years. Please refer to Grants.gov for the full NOFO.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants for the PROTECT Competitive Grant Program funding are States, metropolitan planning organizations (MPO), local governments, federally recognized Indian Tribes, public transportation agencies, port authorities, and Federal Land Managing Agencies (FLMA) when applying jointly with a State or group of States. Specific to At-Risk Coastal Infrastructure Grants, eligibility also includes U.S. territories, plus the same entities eligible for the broader program, but limited to coastal States and other specified entities within such States (see 23 U.S.C. § 176(d)(4)(C)(i)).
Please refer to Section B.1 of the NOFO for more details. Eligibility varies by project type between "Planning, Resilience Improvement, and Community Resilience and Evacuation Route Grants" and "At-Risk Coastal Infrastructure Grants."
Apply
View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: DOT Federal Highway Administration <support@grants.gov>
Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →
A one-page internal memo: fit assessment, submission requirements, document scaffold, and next steps dated back from the deadline — tailored to your project idea if you add one.
Proposal shell · Federal (generic) conventions SEE A FEDERAL EXAMPLE →
Funder-faithful document skeletons — Federal (generic)'s document set with section headings, page limits, reviewer guidance, and writing prompts; add a project idea to get [DRAFT] starter bullets. Download as .md for Word or Overleaf.