New direction for transportation funding
The U.S. Department of Transportation has just announced the allocation of $1.73 billion in grants for transportation projects across the country. To fund the program, money is being redirected from what the administration calls “DEI bike lanes” — referring to Biden-era programs that included equity goals — to roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. These changes are one of the clearest examples of how the administration intends to reshape federal transportation spending.
Priorities: roads, bridges, and ports
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said roughly 77 percent of the funding, about $1.3 billion, will go to road and bridge projects along so-called critical transportation corridors. Another seven percent will be directed to maritime infrastructure, compared with roughly two percent under the previous administration, according to the Department of Transportation.
Where the money goes
According to the Department of Transportation, no funding from this round of BUILD grants will be used for bike lane projects. The agency noted that roughly 20 percent of comparable funding under the Biden administration supported pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. This comes at a time when studies suggest cyclists may face the greatest danger among all road users.
“America is lucky to have a builder in the White House who knows that America is only as great as our infrastructure,” Duffy said in a statement to the Daily Wire. “That is why this Department is investing in repairing the critical roads and bridges that connect Americans to job opportunities, port infrastructure that strengthens our national security, and aviation and transit projects that transport American families.”
The Secretary said nothing about the countless Americans who use bicycle infrastructure every day.
Remember when Biden and Butt-Edge-Edge used YOUR MONEY for DEI bike lanes and fighting climate change?
THAT IS OVER
I just redirected $1.73 billion from USDOT grants away from Biden-era DEI projects
Now this funding is officially locked in for repairing America’s true backbone: ROADS,…
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) July 7, 2026
The program behind the grants
The BUILD program has existed since 2009 and provides competitive grants to state and local governments for a wide variety of transportation projects. While some awards have funded bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, the grants have also supported highway improvements, bridges, transit facilities, ports, rail projects, and freight corridors.
The Department of Transportation did not specify whether future rounds of BUILD funding will continue to exclude bicycle infrastructure, but the latest awards underscore the administration’s stated focus on traditional transportation infrastructure above all else.
This decision raises questions about the balance between different modes of transportation in the U.S. While the focus on repairing roads and bridges may be justified given their physical condition, ignoring bicycle infrastructure occurs against the backdrop of growing popularity of bicycles as an environmentally friendly and economical mode of transport. Additionally, the use of the term “DEI bike lanes” indicates a politicization of the issue, which may complicate finding compromises in the future. It remains unclear whether this approach will be reconsidered in subsequent funding rounds, especially given the safety risks for cyclists on the roads.