Special Transportation Circumstances
Overview: The purpose of Special Transportation Circumstances (STC) Grants is to provide directed grant funding under the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program and the Restoration and Enhancement Grant Program to certain states that lack intercity passenger rail service or are not connected to the national rail system. See the FY 2021 Notice of Funding Opportunity for more information.
Previous STC Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFO):
Statutory References: STC grants were authorized in Section 11301 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, Pub. L. No. 114-94 (2015); 49 U.S.C. § 22907(l). The STC authorization directs the Secretary of Transportation to allocate to certain states an appropriate portion of the amounts available to programs in Chapter 229 of Title 49 of the United States Code.
Funding under this program was made available by:
- The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, Public Law No. 115-31, Division K, Title I
- The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Public Law No. 115-141, Division L, Title I
- The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, Public Law No. 116-6, Division G, Title I
- The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, Public Law Div. 116-94, Division H, Title I
- The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Public Law Div. 116-260, Division L, Title I
Amount Appropriated by Fiscal Year:
- $2,241,100 in FY 2017
- $18,805,193 in FY 2018
- $7,982,000 in FY 2019
- $10,038,900 in FY 2020
- $11,657,404 in FY 2021
- For Alaska, eligible projects must be a freight or passenger rail-related capital project in that state.
- For South Dakota and Wyoming, eligible projects must be freight rail capital projects in those states that are on a state rail plan developed under Chapter 227, and that provide public benefits as defined in 49 U.S.C. § 22701(2).
- The federal share of total costs for an STC project must not exceed 80 percent of the total cost of a project. The required 20 percent non-federal share may be composed of public sector (state or local) and/or private sector funding.