WASHINGTON, DC – In an effort to bolster Rhode Island’s water infrastructure, help the state tap into transportation dollars, and promote Ocean State economic development, U.S. Senators Jack Reed, a leading member of the Appropriations Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse, the next Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, helped pass the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024.
This legislation authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to carry out projects that enhance our nation’s ports, harbors, inland waterway navigation, flood and storm protection, and other critical water infrastructure.
This year’s bill also includes provisions to help states, including Rhode Island, unlock unused transportation funds that have accumulated under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program. The bill directs the U.S. Secretary of Transportation (USDOT) to transfer $1.8 billion in unused TIFIA funding to the states through the existing Surface Transportation Block Grant program, which provides flexible funding to states for key transportation projects. It also directs USDOT to redistribute 75 percent of any future unused amounts out of the $250 million provided to TIFIA annually in each of FY 2025 and 2026.
As a result, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) will receive an additional one-time allocation of roughly $9 million that the state may use toward key transportation priorities.
This year’s WRDA also reauthorizes the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to help spur development in distressed local communities across the country. Through its grant programs, EDA helps local communities plan for economic development activities, construct ‘last-mile’ infrastructure, and mitigate the effects of short- and long-term economic challenges and disasters.
“WRDA invests in our waterways and help keeps commerce flowing. I worked on a bipartisan basis to help unlock an estimated $9 million in transportation funding for RIDOT this year and ensure more upfront money is going to states so they can better plan and budget for the future. This provision will help state transportation agencies effectively allocate federal dollars while advancing key transportation projects,” said Senator Reed.
“This year’s water resources package will help Rhode Island advance long-term climate resilience and transportation priorities, while supporting economic development,” said Senator Whitehouse, who serves on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee where the WRDA bill was crafted, and will be its Ranking Member next year. “This bill also provides an avenue to deploy more funding to the Ocean State in the future to rehabilitate old or unsafe dams.”
The bill also reauthorizes through 2028 the National Dam Safety Program, which lapsed at the end of last September. The bill also increases the amount a state can receive for its dam safety program through already available funding via the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Rhode Island is home to over 600 dams and according to the Department of Environmental Management’s annual Dam Safety Report: “At the end of 2023, there were thirty-three unsafe dams and eleven potentially unsafe dams with known owners, thirty-three unsafe dams with unknown owners and two unsafe dams determined to be orphans.”
