Navigating MAP-21: How Much Money Will My State Get?

The new transportation law, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) creates a new program called Transportation Alternatives program (TA). TA combines several key funding pots from the past — Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School and Recreational Trails — and adds new eligible activities, like environmental mitigation (which used to be included in road project costs), over-looks and viewing areas, and certain boulevard projects.

Everyone seems to have the same question: How much money is my state going to get?

We’ve tried to answer that question as simply as possible. This table shows the amount of funds each state received in fiscal year 2012 from Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School, and the Recreational Trails program combined, compared to how much each state will receive from the Transportation Alternatives program.

All states will see a reduction in funding, but, because the law changes the way these funds are distributed to the states, the percentages vary.

For a more detailed break down, check out these two tables from America Bikes and the Safe Routes to School National Partnership (also see SRTS’s blog post).

• 2012 TE, SRTS, & Rec Tails VS. TA in 2013 and 2014: This is a more detailed version of the table above. It includes the funding levels of each distinct program in FY 2012. It also shows the TA values for FY 2014 and the percentage reduction in funding.
• Sub-division of Transportation Alternatives: This is a table for those who really want to understand the breakdown of the TA program. It shows the dollars amounts distributed according to this break down:

The key point in all of this is that TA still represents an opportunity for bicycling and walking projects. We are asking cyclists to work closely with their state and local advocacy organizations to ask their state to make full use of Transportation Alternatives funds. To see how your state ranking in spending federal money, see our Bicycle Friendly State report cards.

For more resources, check out our MAP-21 resources section on the Advocacy Advance website to find tables on how well your state has spent existing bicycling and walking programs.