Background
The PROTECT program is a federal program that provides funding to help communities address vulnerabilities due to weather, natural disasters, and climate change. It was established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021 and provides $8.7 billion in formula and discretionary funding for improving the resilience of highway, transit, intercity rail, and port facilities to climate change and natural disasters. The program is administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The vision of the PROTECT program is to help make surface transportation more resilient to natural hazards, including climate change, sea level rise, flooding, extreme weather events, and other natural disasters through support of planning activities, resilience improvements, community resilience and evacuation routes, and at-risk costal infrastructure. For more general information about the PROTECT Program,
visit this page.
Resilience Improvement Plan (RIP): Benefits to ODOT & Partners
FHWA approved ODOT’s
statewide Resilience Improvement Plan (RIP) and it was integrated into ODOT’s long-range plan, the
Oregon Transportation Plan in 2023. As a result, any eligible state entity applying for PROTECT grant funds can contact ODOT and add their project to the RIP project list to be eligible for a 7% reduction in match. ODOT projects included on the approved RIP project list are eligible for a 10% match reduction. Local, state or federal funds can be used as matching funds for PROTECT projects. An approved RIP also eliminates some grant-specific requirements, including benefit cost analysis requirements in some instances. Please see the most current discretionary (grant) funding notice for up to date details. ODOT's RIP is titled the Climate Adaptation and Resilience Roadmap. Because ODOT's list of resilience projects is comprehensive of all needs and frequently updated, it is not included within the document. See the instructions below to add your project to the project list and request a copy to include with your PROTECT discretionary application.
How Can I Add My Project to the Statewide RIP List?
Copy the attached spreadsheet, fill out the requested details and send them to
Email protect.program@odot.oregon.gov. An ODOT representative will contact you within eight weeks and provide a project list copy to meet application submission requirements. Please allow enough time before the application deadline to initiate this process.
Two Streams of Funding
PROTECT Discretionary Grant Funds
The total funding nationally for PROTECT discretionary funds was $848 million in 2023. A list of funded projects can be found
here. The notice of funding for 2024 PROTECT grant opportunities is expected in April of 2024.The PROTECT discretionary funding opportunity is available for ODOT and partners throughout the state. This is a nationally competitive process and funding is divided into four categories:
- Planning
- Resilience improvement
- Community resilience & evacuation routes
- At-risk coastal infrastructure
PROTECT Formula Funds
Formula funds are limited and are being exclusively programmed on ODOT facilities. ODOT has approximately $13 million to $19 million per year in formula funds to support projects that improve resilience to climate hazards. Guidance on the PROTECT formula funds can be found
here and a fact sheet can be found
here.
Anticipated Outcomes
The purpose of these programs is to provide funds for resilience improvements to enable communities to assess vulnerabilities to current and future weather events and natural disasters and changing conditions, including sea level rise, and plan transportation improvements and emergency response strategies to address those vulnerabilities and to protect;
- Surface transportation assets by making them more resilient to current and future weather events and natural disasters, such as severe storms, flooding, drought, levee and dam failures, wildfire, rockslides, mudslides, sea level rise, extreme weather, including extreme temperature, and earthquakes;
- Communities through resilience improvements and strategies that allow for the continued operation or rapid recovery of surface transportation systems that serve critical local, regional, and national needs, including evacuation routes, and that provide access or service to hospitals and other medical or emergency service facilities, major employers, critical manufacturing centers, ports and intermodal facilities, utilities, and Federal facilities;
- Coastal infrastructure, such as a tide gate to protect highways, that is at long-term risk to sea level rise;
- Natural infrastructure that protects and enhances surface transportation assets while improving ecosystem conditions, including culverts that ensure adequate flows in rivers and estuarine systems.