Announcing the FY09 Selected Projects and Reopening the Solicitation for Demonstration Projects

Colorado, Florida, Maine, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin have been chosen for 2009 grants of up to $1 million each. Jeff Paniati, the Federal Highway Administration's acting deputy administrator, announced that the awards had been made at a Highways for LIFE stakeholders meeting in May.

Highways for LIFE is following though with the commitment to continue to accept applications if additional funds are available after the projects are selected from the initial FY09 solicitation until all funds have been awarded or when we reach the limit of 15 funded projects per year. A budget of $7,000,000 has been set aside to fund up to 7 additional projects. Also, the waiver of state match incentive is still available.

The process will be on a first come, first served basis with priority given to those states that have not received HfL funds. The applications will be evaluated and selected individually on a rolling schedule. It will take approximately 6-8 weeks for us to process and select projects.

All applications from the State must be submitted to the division offices. The division office is to forward the State's application and provide a recommendation memorandum to the HfL office with the following information:

• Identify the features in the application that are truly innovative in their State (not a standard practice);
• Determine if the project meets the minimum requirements of HfL;
• Identify the measurable HfL goals that will be met by the innovations;
• Determine if the innovations will make a significant improvement in the State's construction program;
• Provide a recommendation if this project should be selected as a HfL project; and
• Determine if the State is willing to consider making a standard practice of the innovation after a successful demonstration.

FY 2009 Highways for LIFE Project Application