The Last Wildlife Crossings Round Under the Infrastructure Law: About $80 Million, Roughly Eight Awards, and a November 16 Deadline

Each year American drivers hit wildlife more than one million times. By the Federal Highway Administration's count, those collisions cause tens of thousands of serious injuries and about 200 deaths. Unlike most traffic deaths, these mostly happen at predictable places: a known elk migration route, a creek culvert deer use as a corridor, a two-lane highway between a forest and a river.

The Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program (WCPP) was created to pay for fixing those places, and its last round under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is open now. FHWA posted the FY2026 Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program NOFO, opportunity number FHWA-WCPP-26-002 (Assistance Listing 20.290), on September 30, 2026. Applications are due November 16, 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern, a 45-day window.

The round is smaller than earlier ones, and the review rules have been rewritten.

The numbers

The IIJA provided $350 million in contract authority for WCPP across FY2022 through FY2026. The first round awarded $110 million to 19 projects in 17 states, four of them led by Tribes. The second, announced December 20, 2024, awarded $125 million to 16 projects in 16 states, one led by a Tribe. That round drew 61 applications from 28 states asking for $585 million, about 4.7 dollars requested for every dollar available. Roughly one application in four was funded.

If those two rounds account for the full obligations, about $115 million of the $350 million is left. That is the $80 million in FY2026 authority plus roughly $35 million carried over from earlier years, which would explain why the NOFO says "any unobligated funding from previous fiscal years." With about eight expected awards, the average award could land near $10 million, up from around $7.8 million in round two and $5.8 million in round one. Fewer and larger awards favor construction-ready projects, and the NOFO says so directly.

What changed from the multi-year NOFO

Two years ago FHWA issued a single FY2024–2026 multi-year NOFO intended to cover three funding years, with an FY2026 window scheduled for May through August 2025. The new notice cancels that multi-year NOFO and opens what it calls "the final application period for FY 2026 funds." Its "Changes from Prior NOFO" box lists four changes:

• References to rescinded executive orders are removed.
• The NOFO is aligned with current executive orders and administration priorities.
• The application evaluation criteria are updated.
• The application template is now mandatory (it was optional).

The template is posted alongside the NOFO on Grants.gov. Applicants who started from a past round's narrative format will need to move it into the template. That is easy to overlook in a 45-day window.

The criteria language has also been reframed. Criterion 1 is still the statutory goal of reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs), but the NOFO now describes it as advancing the administration's priority of "Addressing Core Infrastructure," and gives "eliminating at-grade wildlife crossings" as an example. The secondary criterion on economic benefit now names visitors "including American families" drawn to "wildlife viewing, hunting, or fishing opportunities." Neither change alters what a strong project looks like. Both change which words your narrative should use.

How applications are now rated

Review runs through three gates, and an application has to pass each one to reach the next.

Gate one: merit. Two primary criteria are each rated Highly Responsive, Responsive, or Non-Responsive:

1. Reduction of WVCs. Highly Responsive applications address all four elements: (A) current and projected collisions, including species, number, severity, and cost, with and without the project; (B) landscape context and movement corridors; (C) specific countermeasures and their expected effectiveness; and (D) a high collision count, large mammals that cause greater human harm, or species of regional significance.
2. Habitat connectivity. Highly Responsive applications show, for at least one species, at least two of three outcomes: reconnecting isolated populations or fragmented habitat, enabling safe migration along known corridors, or reconnecting animals to food or water where the road is the barrier.

A Non-Responsive rating on either primary criterion makes the application Low, and it stops there. Next comes a secondary criterion with five statutory considerations: non-federal leverage, economic development and visitation, innovative technology, education and outreach, and monitoring and research. Meeting four of the five earns Highly Responsive. Meeting fewer than three is Non-Responsive and also ends review.

Gate two: readiness. Only applications rated High or Medium on merit move on to three readiness ratings, each scored 1 to 3:

• Technical: staff capacity, federal compliance, schedule commitment, feasibility
• Financial completeness: cost estimates based on recent design stages, a cost-overrun plan, available match, and, for construction, how future operations, maintenance, and preservation will be paid for
• Permitting risk: NEPA status, permits, public engagement, and any litigation or controversy, which applicants must disclose. An EA or EIS that hasn't yet been released for public review counts as schedule risk.

A High readiness rating requires at least two 3s and no more than one 2.

Gate three: priority considerations. Among applications rated Highly Recommended or Recommended, DOT says it may favor projects with high readiness, high merit, construction scope, geographic spread, "a broad range of eligible recipients rather than … a select group of repeat players," improvements to "the travel experience for American families," and projects that reduce congestion "without proposing limits to roadway capacity."

The repeat-player line matters for states that won in both earlier rounds. The roadway-capacity line matters for any design that narrows a road or lowers speeds to cut collisions. If your countermeasure includes a lane reduction or a speed-management element, explain how traffic flow is maintained.

Eligibility and match details that sink applications

Eligible applicants are state DOTs, MPOs, local governments, regional transportation authorities, special-purpose districts with a transportation function, Indian Tribes, federal land management agencies (FLMAs), and groups of these. Foundations, NGOs, and universities can't apply directly, but they can be eligible partners and receive funds through the grantee.

Three structural rules catch applicants who are not state DOTs:

• State DOT consultation is mandatory. Any applicant other than a state DOT or an FLMA must document that the state highway agency was consulted while the application was developed. For Tribes, this applies only to projects off Tribal lands. Applications without that documentation won't be reviewed.
• The state DOT administers your grant. For any recipient other than a Tribe or an FLMA, the law requires the state DOT to administer the project directly or act as pass-through. FHWA cannot make the award if the state DOT doesn't agree. Get that agreement in writing before November 16, not after selection.
• It's reimbursement. Recipients other than Tribes and FLMAs are paid only for costs incurred after the grant agreement is signed. Costs already incurred don't count toward the match. Tribes and FLMAs can receive advance payments through FHWA's Office of Federal Lands Highway.

The 20 percent match has real exceptions. Under 23 U.S.C. 120(c)(1), certain safety construction projects can be funded at up to 100 percent federal share. States with large areas of federal or nontaxable Indian land get a sliding-scale increase in federal share. Tribes and FLMAs can match with other federal funds under 23 U.S.C. 120(k). An application with no match and no documented exception is ineligible, so cite the specific statutory basis for any exception you claim.

Deadlines beyond November 16

This round falls in an uncertain period for surface transportation funding. The IIJA's authorization expired September 30, 2026, and Congress is still negotiating a successor bill under a continuing resolution that runs to December 11 (our analysis of the $160.7 billion unobligated DOT balance). WCPP's FY2026 money is already-authorized contract authority, so this round is funded. Nothing is yet authorized for a FY2027 round. Plan as if this is the last WCPP competition until a reauthorization passes.

For a project team that means:

1. This week: Confirm state DOT consultation and administration agreement. Download the mandatory template. Decide whether you're submitting construction or non-construction work. Planning and research are eligible, but DOT says it may prioritize construction.
2. By early November: Lock collision data (carcass counts, crash reports, insurance claims) and corridor data (GPS collar studies, state wildlife action plans) for Criteria 1 and 2. Line up commitments from non-federal contributors for the leverage consideration.
3. Before submitting: Write a cost-overrun plan and a maintenance funding plan. Missing either one drops financial completeness to "Partially Complete." Disclose NEPA class and status honestly, because a hidden EIS will cost more than a disclosed one.

FHWA's own estimate is about 60 applicants at about 40 hours each. Applicants who started early have an advantage, because a narrative can be written in 40 hours but a state DOT agreement and an overrun plan usually can't.

If your team has the corridor data but needs a submission-ready narrative mapped to the new criteria in the next 26 days, Granted can help you draft and check it against the NOFO before November 16.