FHWA's $20M Great American Digital Corridors Program: Multi-State Data Feeds Due December 28

A state DOT can't win this grant by itself. Federal Highway Administration's new program pays only for corridors that cross state lines, and the strongest applications will show every state DOT and road operator along the route signed up.

FHWA posted the Fiscal Year 2026 Great American Digital Corridors (GADC) Program (funding opportunity FHWA-GADC-27-001, Assistance Listing 20.273) on November 12. It offers up to $20 million for publicly available, interoperable transportation data feeds along multi-state corridors, mostly Interstates. DOT expects up to eight awards of $1 million to $8 million. No local match is required, and applications are due Monday, December 28, 2026, at 11:59:59 p.m. ET, three days after Christmas.

That leaves about six weeks to line up a coalition that normally takes a year to build. This is a new program with no past awards to study, a short window, and a scoring system that favors corridors already working together. Below is how it works and who has a realistic shot.

Where the Money Comes From and What It Buys

GADC isn't a new appropriation. The NOFO says the money comes from section 11101(c)(1)(D) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which provides $110 million a year for the Intelligent Transportation Systems program under 23 U.S.C. §§ 512-518. The ITS Joint Program Office has set aside up to $20 million of that for GADC. Funds must be obligated by September 30, 2029, and DOT expects periods of performance of one to four years. Awards are cost-reimbursable cooperative agreements, so you spend first and invoice later, and FHWA stays closely involved. The NOFO lists kickoff and monthly status meetings, annual technical and budget reviews, and federal approval of your implementation plan and schedule.

The match waiver is the biggest financial draw. A Secretarial determination under IIJA section 11101(c)(3) sets the required non-federal share for FY2026 GADC at zero. Most federal-aid highway work carries a 20 percent local share, so for a state DOT this is one of the rare times a multi-million-dollar operations technology project can be fully federally funded.

The eligibility test is narrow. An eligible project must "create a publicly available, interoperable transportation data feed and operational exchange system along a continuous corridor that connects multiple States," and it "must include work zone or lane closure information." Eligible costs are planning, design, construction, installation, testing, validation, and operational deployment of digital infrastructure. Buy America and Build America, Buy America rules apply, which matters if you plan to buy roadside units or sensors.

The program's goals point to five themes: near real-time data exchange for safety and freight, multi-state end-to-end coverage of "all lane miles," accurate work zone and lane closure feeds, open data formats, and post-crash care through integration with 911 and EMS systems. The NOFO gives three examples. One is a seven-state Interstate built around work zone feeds. One reroutes freight in bad weather on a corridor carrying 75 percent of the nation's goods. One manages traffic on a ten-state coast-to-coast route ahead of a major international sporting event expected to push traffic to 225 percent of capacity.

Who Can Apply, and Who Must Lead

Eligible lead applicants are states, local governments, Tribal governments, transit agencies, public toll authorities, metropolitan planning organizations, other political subdivisions, and consortia of these. Private companies, nonprofits, and universities can lead a project only "as part of consortium" with one or more other eligible entities.

Most winning teams will still be led by state DOTs, for practical reasons. If a non-state-DOT applicant plans to use federal-aid formula funds apportioned to a state as part of the budget, the application must include a letter from that state DOT agreeing to administer the project, with the applicant as subrecipient. The scoring also rewards state DOT participation, as described below. An MPO, toll authority, or regional coalition such as an Interstate corridor coalition can lead, but it should arrive with signed state DOT commitments.

There's no limit on the number of applications. If you submit more than one, rank them on the cover page. FHWA says it isn't required to follow your ranking, but the ranking still tells reviewers which project you care about most.

How the Scoring Actually Works

GADC rates applications rather than scoring them out of 100 points. Each of four merit criteria is rated Highly Responsive, Responsive, or Non-Responsive. An application gets an overall "High" merit rating only if at least three of the four are Highly Responsive. A single Non-Responsive rating makes the merit rating "Low," and only applications rated Medium or higher go on to the Project Readiness Assessment. That assessment rates technical capacity, financial completeness, and permitting risk from Certain (3) to Unknown or Uncertain (1).

Here is what moves each criterion to Highly Responsive:

Criterion 1, Project Objectives. You need all five elements, A through E. The first is the hardest. You must explain how, within one year of award, the project will deliver the public, interoperable feed along an end-to-end multi-state corridor. You also need measurable operational benefits, a work zone component (an active and complete Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx) feed, connected work zones, or something similar), a safety case tied to fatal and serious-injury crashes, and either wayfinding improvements or rural modernization. A plan that only gets to an operational feed in year three won't rate well here.

Criterion 2, Data Quality, Validation, and Public Availability. Highly Responsive requires all four elements: a method for data accuracy, completeness, timeliness, and coverage using FHWA Office of Operations definitions; validation against ground truth; an end-to-end latency approach suited to your use case; and a plan for public formats and for tracking who uses the data. Agencies that have run WZDx feeds often know their accuracy problems. Say what they are and explain how you'll measure the fix.

Criterion 3, Partnership and Institutional Capacity. This is the coalition test, and it has seven elements. To be Highly Responsive, the state DOTs and infrastructure owner-operators (IOOs) along the corridor must participate. A majority earns only Responsive. The criterion also expects private partners such as fleet telematics providers and operators of automated-driving-system vehicles and their teleoperation centers, a letter of commitment from every public and private partner, partnerships with 911 centers or public safety agencies, "an active academic partner," a clear team structure, and a procurement path that can finish 23 CFR Part 940 systems engineering on schedule.

Criterion 4, Operability, Economic Competitiveness, and Scalability. Reviewers want to see feeds that already run along the corridor, such as connected work zones, Road Weather Information Systems, truck parking information, the Traffic Management Data Dictionary, TMC-to-device communications, and WZDx. They also want to see how your design could transfer to other corridors. GADC is meant to build on infrastructure that already works, not to start from nothing.

When applications rate about the same, DOT may choose among them using five priority considerations. They are readiness to finish within one year, Interstate corridors covering all lane miles with every IOO committed, a geographic mix of winners, congestion reduction, and rural responsiveness. The NOFO also says DOT will prioritize projects consistent with DOT Orders 2100.7 (economic analysis) and 2100.9 (nondiscrimination). A Senior Review Team that includes the Office of the Secretary makes the final call, and FHWA may offer a smaller award than you requested.

Six Weeks, Including the Holidays

Treat December 28 as if it were December 18. Many state DOT signatories, partner counsel, and private-sector legal teams are away during the last two weeks of December, and Criterion 3 needs a signed letter from every partner. Here is a realistic sequence.

This week: Choose the corridor and confirm that the lead agency's Grants.gov and SAM.gov registrations are current. Existing Interstate coalitions are the natural starting point, because the hardest part, getting several states to agree on data standards, is already done. Examples include the Eastern Transportation Coalition (formerly the I-95 Corridor Coalition), the I-10 Corridor Coalition, and the regional truck parking information partnerships that several Midwestern DOTs already run together.

By Thanksgiving: Collect each DOT's current feed inventory (WZDx version, RWIS coverage, TMC interfaces) for Criterion 4. Bring in an academic partner and at least one 911 or public safety partner, since both are named elements, and leaving either out costs you Highly Responsive on Criterion 3.

Early December: Send letter-of-commitment templates to every partner with a firm return date of December 15. Draft the one-year delivery plan for Criterion 1A along with a latency and validation approach for Criterion 2. Use the application template FHWA posted with the listing.

Week of December 21: Hold for final signatures and submit early. Questions go to digitalcorridors.program@dot.gov.

At up to eight awards nationwide and an expected range of "two or three large or several smaller awards," competition will be tight. The applicants with the best odds are corridors where neighboring states already share work zone data and can show it working. For a team assembled from scratch, a smaller and fully committed corridor segment will likely beat an ambitious coast-to-coast proposal with half the DOTs unsigned. DOT expects to announce awards in early 2027.

Multi-state proposals mean one narrative written for several agencies on a short deadline. Granted can help your coalition turn feed inventories and partner commitments into an application that answers all four merit criteria before December 28.