WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has cleared 529 infrastructure projects worth more than $2.9 billion in federal grants previously awarded by the Biden administration that had been caught in a three-year backlog.
“The Trump Administration inherited more than 3,200 unobligated grants that had been announced by the previous administration but never obligated” with federal funding, the U.S. Department of Transportation stated in an announcement on Tuesday.
“This unprecedented backlog of unobligated grants delayed critical investments in communities across the country.”
Among the projects previously announced but now obligated with federal grant funds are $47 million to establish an offshore wind logistics and manufacturing hub near the Port of Baltimore, approved in 2023; $21 million to rehabilitate track and other rail assets owned by the Great Lakes Central railroad in Michigan, approved in 2022; $12 million to install a container yard and electrification system at SeaPort Manatee, Florida, approved in 2022, and 9 million to purchase new freight-handling equipment at Port Angeles, Washington, approved in 2024.
The offshore wind logistics hub project, known as the Sparrows Point Steel Marshalling Port Project and being built by offshore wind developer US Wind, is one of the last offshore-wind related projects to receive funding since President Trump ordered in February a moratorium on new or renewed federal actions for onshore and offshore wind projects, pending federal review.
In announcing the latest project funding obligations, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he is refocusing the department’s competitive grant programs “on core infrastructure – not enacting a radical political agenda.
“With a third of the last administration’s unprecedented backlog cleared, we will continue to rip out red tape roadblocks to get dirt moving.”
A breakdown of the latest grants cleared for funding can be found here.
