Abby Cutrumbes Heerema • May 12, 2026 • 5 minute read

As an MPO, the vast majority of our funding comes from federal sources. However, this funding isn’t determined during the annual budget process. Instead, about every five years, “reauthorization” legislation allocates funding from the Highway Trust Fund and other sources to fund the interstate highway system, transit, MPOs, and related programs. The most recent iteration of this legislation was President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) passed in 2021, which provided funding for transportation through FFY2026.

FFY2026 ends in September 2026, meaning that Congress will be passing a new reauthorization to continue funding these programs. While the official deadline is September 30th, Congress often uses continuing resolutions to maintain funding at current levels during negotiations, as they have in the past.

In March, the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO) hosted a fly-in for members of its Policy Committee (including me!) to discuss what we can expect from reauthorization and to contribute to AMPO’s overall policy strategy for the next year. Below are some of the key takeaways about the upcoming reauthorization legislation:

• There will likely be a shift from grant to formula funding. The IIJA created a proliferation of new grant programs. While these investments addressed important transportation needs, some USDOT officials and members of Congress felt it created excessive administrative burden. The Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Sam Graves, has said that this reauthorization bill will bring transportation spending “back to basics,”  focusing on core programming [National Highway Performance Program (NHPP), Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG), and Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and likely trimming discretionary grants.
• However, safety remains a key consideration for Congress members and USDOT. There have been proposals to shift Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant funding to a formula program, which would increase reliability of this funding and potentially allow for longer term planning. The specifications for eligible project types or uses may change.
• We may see PL funding increase. Currently, only about 0.5% of formula funding goes to MPO PL funds. AMPO lobbyists, working with bipartisan Congress members, have filed a bill that would raise this to 2.5%. While it’s too early to know whether this proposal will be included in the final legislation, it has received a positive reception from many congressional offices and committee staff involved in drafting the bill.
• Increased highway program funding is likely, but the level of transit funding is unknown. The next reauthorization bill is estimated to include $500-550B of total highway program funding, which includes NHPP, STBG, HSIP and other formula programs. This is similar to the funding level of the IIJA (adjusted for inflation) if all of the discretionary grant programs are included. Committee staff have not shared any potential transit funding numbers.
• The distribution formula for formula programs is unlikely to change dramatically. Despite 2025 directives from USDOT to incorporate new variables like marriage and birth rates into grant applications, AMPO and congressional staff do not expect the distribution formula for core programs to change much, if at all. In other words, absent an overall reduction in national funding, Massachusetts’ share of formula dollars is expected to remain largely unchanged.

In short, what we can expect from the next reauthorization bill is a decrease in discretionary grants, especially those no longer aligned with the federal administration’s priorities, and an increase in formula dollars for core programs. In the coming weeks and months, we will find out more about potential transit funding amounts and whether we will see an increase in our own PL funding.

Stay tuned!