Municipal Stream Crossing Program

Application Overview

The Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) is seeking applications for the Municipal Stream Crossing Program to provide competitive grants that help fund the upgrade of municipal culverts at stream crossings with the goal of improving fish and wildlife habitat and community safety. This Request for Application (RFA) document provides instructions for submitting applications, evaluation criteria, and contract provisions. Eligible project sponsors include local and tribal governments, municipal conservation commissions, soil and water conservation districts, and private nonprofit organizations. Eligible projects involve culverts that carry a stream under a local government road, not a state (including state-aid) or private road. The maximum amount of funds an applicant may request is $200,000 for projects that include design and construction (as long as they result in a completed construction project) and must include a minimum of $5,000 of local match (cash or in-kind).

Scoring criteria will be centered around the extent to which the project restores habitat for fish (including sea-run fish and native brook trout) and wildlife, as well as the extent to which the proposed project meets 1.2 times the stream’s bankfull width and stream crossing size meets MaineDOT’s 100-year flood standard. Applicants will be required to provide elements of the proposed structure including stream profile, stream restoration practices in the design and installation, bankfull width measurements with supporting materials, summary of completed field work, appropriate proposed structure size, and proposed stream bottom materials. Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) will provide input on the fish and wildlife improvement sections of each applications.

Scoring criteria will also consider the extent to which the project allows the community to more effectively prepare for large storm events by requiring project location, structure age/condition, documented historical flooding, description and cost of maintenance history, and safety and impacts to community (including detour length, average annual daily traffic (AADT), and number of homes/businesses cutoff). Applicants will also be evaluated on the project quality by requiring match amount and source, project and permitting status (completed tasks), budget, schedule. Any structure spans proposed greater than 10FT require a design review by MaineDOT’s bridge maintenance office prior to construction.

Upon preliminary award, applicants will enter into a Service Contract with MaineDOT. Payment to municipalities receiving the grant funds will be made on a reimbursement basis for direct costs related to the crossing project upon approval of acceptable invoice and documentation. Grant recipients will have 2 years to expend the funds and up to three reimbursement requests coordinated with milestones. Recipients will submit annual progress updates and a final project report. Progress updates will include intended and actual construction dates and total project costs. Prior to construction grant recipients will submit final stamped engineering plans, by Maine Professional Engineer (PE), adequate longitudinal profile, and Army Corps of Engineers permit (as required). Final reimbursement request is dependent on PE verification that project was built to design.