Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) Competitive Grant Program

Funding agency
U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT)
Program name
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Status
Open
Description

The PROTECT Competitive Grant Program provides funding to plan for and make surface transportation more resilient to current and future weather events, natural disasters, and changing conditions, such as severe storms, flooding, drought, levee and dam failures, wildfire, rockslides, mudslides, sea level rise, extreme weather, including extreme temperatures, and earthquakes.  

The PROTECT Competitive Grant Program funds projects that 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.

 

URL
https://www.transportation.gov/rural/grant-toolkit/promoting-resilient-operatio…
Contact
PROTECTcompetitive@dot.gov
Additional notes

The PROTECT Competitive Grant Program has the following categories of funding: Planning Grants and Resilience Grants (including: Resilience Improvement Grants, Community Resilience and Evacuation Route Grants, At-Risk Coastal Infrastructure Grants)

Total funding
$787,000,000
Match required
Yes
Match description
A minimum non-Federal cost-share of 20 percent is required for all applicants, except for: federally recognized Indian Tribes who may request zero costshare; Planning Grants, which do not require a cost-share; and projects covered by an applicable RIP.
Applications open
Applications close
Future rounds
Unknown/Other
Eligible applicant description

Planning, Resilience Improvement, and Community Resilience and Evacuation Route Grants  

  1. A State or political subdivision of a State. (State includes the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico). 
  2. An MPO.
  3. A unit of local government.
  4. A special purpose district or public authority with a transportation function, including a port authority.
  5. A federally recognized Indian Tribe (as defined in 23 U.S.C. § 207(m)(1)). 
  6. A FLMA that applies jointly with a State or group of States. 
  7. A multi-State or multijurisdictional group of entities described in (1) through (6) above. 

 

At-Risk Coastal Infrastructure Grants 

  1. A coastal State (i.e., a State, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) that is in or bordering on the Atlantic, Pacific or Arctic Oceans or the Gulf of America, or a coastal State that is in or bordering on the Long Island Sound or one or more of the Great Lakes. 

 

Also, within a coastal State as described above:   

  1. A political subdivision of a State. 
  2. An MPO. 
  3. A unit of local government. 
  4. A special purpose district or public authority with a transportation function, including a port authority.  
  5. A federally recognized Indian Tribe. 
  6. A FLMA that applies jointly with an eligible State or group of States. 
  7. A multi-State or multijurisdictional group of entities described in (1) through (7) above. 
Project type
Climate Planning and Resilience
Infrastructure and Transportation
Project subcategory
Bike/Ped and Trails
Climate Resilience
Ports and Harbors
Railroads and Railway Crossings
Roads and Bridges
Transit and Vehicles
Other (Climate Planning and Resilience)
Other (Infrastructure and Transportation)
Project stage
Planning
Design
Implementation
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Last updated: September 3, 2026