2022 BYWAY FUNDING

LAKES TO LOCKS PASSAGE E-NEWSLETTER ANNOUNCEMENT OF 2022 BYWAY FUNDING

The Federal Highway Administration has announced an appropriation of $22M for Discretionary funding through a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the National Scenic Byway Program (NSBP). Eligible applicants for NSBP discretionary grants are State DOTs and Indian Tribes.  Other entities may partner with a State DOT or Tribal government to submit an application.

Scenic byway organizations, municipalities, county governments, and other state agencies — CANNOT apply for funding directly to FHWA, therefore proposed projects must be submitted directly to NYSDOT or Tribal government. NYSDOT is requesting all Byway Organizations to apply for funding with a municipal (county, city, town, village or hamlet) sponsor. The first step is for the municipal sponsor to prepare and submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) to NYSDOT no later than COB (6:00 PM) on Wednesday, March 30, 2022.

These grants are 80 percent federal funds /20 percent matching funds, Byway Organizations and their municipal sponsors are responsible for paying the 20% matching funds through a State-Local Agreement to be executed between NYSDOT and your municipal Sponsor. Awards provided with $16M FY 2021 appropriated funding must be obligated by September 30, 2024 and expended by September 30, 2029.  The additional $6 million appropriated for FY 2022 in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, must be obligated by September 30, 2025, and expended by September 30, 2030. 

FHWA will be conducting a webinar for State Scenic Byway Coordinators and Byway Organizations on Thursday March 31st from 2:30PM to 4:00PM.  Questions can be asked during that call, however, all 50 states and their byways will be on the call.  It will be challenging for Byway organizations to get a question in to the FHWA coordinators, so NYSDOT is willing to collect questions from the Byways and submit them to FHWA in advance of the webinar.  Please submit your questions before noon on March 31st to [email protected] or [email protected].

Registration link: https://usdot.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_D6bEx7oRRpuCfifP_fTR-w

PROJECT SUBMISSION PROCESS AND ATTACHMENTS:

  • FHWA’s Notice of Funding Opportunity for the 2022 National Scenic Byway Program’s Grants and Technical Assistance (NSBP_NOFO). This is the guidance to State DOTs and Indian Tribes for the applications. NOTE: All information and deadlines listed in this document are for the State DOT application process, therefore NYSDOT must receive and review ALL documents BEFORE their submission deadline.
  • The Letter of Intent form (FHWA NSBF Letter of Intent Form-Fillable PDF v2) is what municipal sponsors and other state agencies must submit to NYSDOT by COB (6:00PM) on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. NYSDOT will submit to FHWA all Letters of Intent received from the municipal sponsors and state agencies after a review for clarity, content and completeness.
  • The municipal sponsor and state agency Final Application is due to NYSDOT May 2, 2022. NYSDOT will then evaluate all final applications, using the criteria outlined in the NSBP_NOFO, before submission to FHWA. Applications that are determined to be Not Eligible will be returned to the byway organization.  Submitting your application to NYSDOT well in advance of the FHWA deadline is strongly recommended to ensure eligibility.

Any Lakes to Locks Passage partner organization or municipality is encouraged to consider applying for FHWA funding for an eligible project that implements our Corridor Management Plan.  Eligible projects include access to recreation, byway facilities, construction, corridor management plans, highway improvements, interpretive information, marketing programs, resource protection, safety improvements, State and Indian Tribe scenic byway programs, and tourist information (see page 9 of NSBP_NOFO).  In addition the project needs to advance one or more of the NSBP goals of Safety; Equity and Accessibility; Economic Strength; and Climate and Sustainability (see page 16 of NSBP_NOFO).

There is no minimum or maximum award size; however, applicants are encouraged to submit comprehensive applications for large-scale projects of $500,000 or greater. FHWA anticipates high demand for this limited amount of funding so applicants should clearly demonstrate the independent components of each project so scaled funding options are identified in case insufficient funding is available to fund a project at the full requested amount. The FHWA anticipates awarding between 40-50 grants.  If additional funding is made available, additional awards may be made.

To discuss your project and implementation of the Lakes to Locks Passage Corridor Management Plan please contact Janet Kennedy at 518-637-4687 or by email [email protected].