Dive Brief:
The Federal Highway Administration has not completed guidance that state transportation departments need to administer programs supported by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and other federal funds, according to an audit released Monday by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General.
Federal regulations generally require surface transportation projects to be included on approved Statewide Transportation Improvement Programs, which include all projects planned for implementation over at least four years. “Lack of complete guidance may increase the risk that IIJA funding will not achieve intended benefits and cause increased project costs,” the OIG said.
The OIG recommended that FHWA complete the outstanding guidance items and manage a list of states’ technical assistance requests in order to fulfill them.
Dive Insight:
The FHWA oversees approximately $350 billion in funding from the IIJA. The agency provided states with a list of 22 guidance issues in 2022, but as of November 2023 it was still working on four of these items. According to the OIG, FHWA’s review and approval of STIPs is designed to help state transportation departments meet federal requirements including reliable cost estimates and reasonably available funding.
The OIG’s audit sampled state transportation departments in Texas, Virginia and Washington. One unspecified state said it received FHWA guidance after having completed its project delivery plan, which a state transportation official said impacted the analysis and allocation of program funds. Another state was waiting for guidance to make project funding and selection recommendations, and the third said its projects could be delayed depending on the highway administration’s final guidance.
In one case, the FHWA took up to five months to fulfill two requests for technical assistance from a state transportation department. “Similar delays in other States may increase the risk of adversely affecting the States’ STIP development for IIJA-funded projects, which can be time-sensitive,” the audit says.
The OIG made three recommendations to the FHWA to improve its oversight of STIPs. They include:
Providing state departments of transportation and FHWA division offices with all planned IIJA guidance areas and associated target completion dates.
Identifying outstanding technical assistance requests and fulfilling them.
Developing and implementing a policy requiring FHWA headquarters’ agreement when division offices make revisions to their standard operating procedures for reviewing and approving STIPs.
In response to the report, the highway administration agreed with the first recommendation and provided appropriate actions and completion dates, the OIG said. The FHWA partially concurred with the second two recommendations, providing an action plan for responding to outstanding technical assistance requests but saying it will only require reviews of division office procedural revisions for major changes.
One FHWA official told the OIG that “the Agency emphasized the issuance of IIJA guidance that would best help States make efficient and effective use of Federal-aid highway formula funding,” the report states.
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