The $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Clock Is Running Out. Six Months to Capture What Remains.

Somewhere in the range of $600 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding has not yet been obligated. That sounds like an enormous amount of money still available — and it is. But the statutory authority for most IIJA discretionary programs expires on September 30, 2026, roughly six months from now. After that date, formula programs for highways, bridges, and transit revert to pre-IIJA levels. Discretionary programs that have not completed their award cycles simply end. And Congress has not introduced a reauthorization bill.

The IIJA was signed in November 2021 with a five-year spending horizon. As of late 2025, approximately $568 billion — about 47 percent of the $1.2 trillion total — had been allocated to roughly 68,000 projects nationwide. The remaining funds are not lost, but they are increasingly contested. The FY2026 spending bills rescinded $2.3 billion from IIJA accounts, with the largest single cut targeting the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program: $503.8 million in formula grants, $300 million in competitive grants, and $75 million for the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, totaling $879 million stripped from EV charging infrastructure alone.

For state and local governments, transit agencies, water utilities, broadband providers, and the nonprofits that partner with them, the next six months represent a fundamentally different proposition than the first four years of IIJA implementation. The question is no longer how to compete for abundant new funding. It is how to capture what remains before the statutory window closes.

What Expires and What Survives

Not all IIJA funding faces the same September 30 cliff. Understanding the distinction between formula programs, discretionary programs, and advance appropriations is essential for prioritizing where to invest application effort.

Formula programs distribute funding to states based on statutory formulas — population, lane-miles, bridge condition, transit ridership. The Federal-Aid Highway Program, the largest single component of the IIJA at roughly $350 billion over five years, operates on this basis. Formula funds for FY2026 have already been apportioned to states. These dollars do not disappear on October 1, but future-year formula funding reverts to the levels authorized under the previous surface transportation law (the FAST Act) unless Congress passes a new authorization.

For states, this means that highway and bridge formula funding will continue but at significantly lower levels — potentially a 20 to 30 percent reduction depending on how the baseline is calculated. Transit formula funding faces a similar stepdown. The practical impact will not be immediate — states have multi-year obligation authority — but the pipeline of new projects that depend on sustained federal formula funding will narrow.

Discretionary programs face a harder deadline. Programs like the RAISE/BUILD grant competition, the Mega Projects program, the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program, and the Reconnecting Communities program all operate under IIJA authorization. When that authorization expires, agencies lose the legal basis to issue new awards under these programs. Applications already in the pipeline may still be processed, but new competitions cannot be launched without new legislation.

The RAISE/BUILD program, which has been one of the most popular discretionary infrastructure grant programs with $1.5 billion in annual competitive awards, had its most recent application deadline on February 24, 2026. Organizations that missed that deadline have likely missed the last IIJA-era RAISE competition. SS4A, which funds local transportation safety plans and implementation projects, faces a similar timeline — its FY2026 competition may be the final round unless reauthorized.

Advance appropriations — funding that Congress committed for specific future fiscal years as part of the IIJA — create a more complex picture. Some programs received advance appropriations extending beyond FY2026. The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, with $42.45 billion and 50 of 56 state plans approved, has funding that extends based on state deployment timelines rather than the September 30 expiration. Water infrastructure funding through the State Revolving Funds — $23.4 billion combined for clean water and drinking water — similarly operates on multi-year deployment schedules.

The $2.3 Billion Rescission: What Was Cut and Why It Matters

The FY2026 appropriations bills did not merely allow IIJA programs to expire on schedule. Congress actively clawed back $2.3 billion in previously authorized funding, targeting programs that the current administration and congressional majority view as misaligned with policy priorities.

The electric vehicle infrastructure cuts — $879 million from the NEVI program — are the most visible example. But smaller rescissions hit programs across the IIJA portfolio, reflecting a broader political dynamic: infrastructure funding that was passed with bipartisan support in 2021 is being selectively unwound by a Congress and administration with different priorities five years later.

For grant seekers, the rescissions carry a practical lesson. Programs that survived the FY2026 rescission process — core highway and bridge funding, water infrastructure, broadband deployment, rail and freight programs — represent the political consensus on what "infrastructure" means in 2026. Programs that were cut or zeroed out — primarily clean energy, EV, and climate-related infrastructure — face an uncertain future regardless of whether IIJA is reauthorized.

Organizations planning multi-year infrastructure strategies should weight their efforts toward programs with demonstrated political durability. Highway safety, water system upgrades, bridge rehabilitation, broadband expansion, and freight logistics all enjoy bipartisan support that survives administration changes. Climate-focused infrastructure programs, by contrast, face continued political headwinds that make long-term planning unreliable.

State Revolving Funds: The Quiet Giant

The most underutilized opportunity in the IIJA countdown may be the State Revolving Funds for water infrastructure. The IIJA allocated $11.7 billion to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and $11.7 billion to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund — $23.4 billion combined. Unlike competitive federal grant programs, SRF funding flows through state agencies that make their own lending and grant decisions.

Many states have not fully deployed their IIJA-enhanced SRF allocations. The reasons vary — some states lack enough shovel-ready water projects, others have administrative backlogs, and some face political resistance to the federal strings attached to IIJA water funding. But the result is the same: billions in below-market-rate loans and principal forgiveness grants remain available for water system upgrades, lead service line replacement, PFAS treatment, and stormwater management.

For municipalities, water utilities, and the nonprofits that work with them, contacting your state's SRF program administrator is one of the highest-return actions available right now. Application processes vary by state but are generally less competitive than federal discretionary programs. Many states operate on rolling application cycles rather than fixed deadlines, meaning projects can be submitted and funded throughout the remainder of FY2026.

The lead service line replacement mandate adds particular urgency. EPA requires all community water systems to inventory their lead service lines by October 2024 (a deadline many systems missed) and begin replacement within specified timeframes. IIJA funding through the Drinking Water SRF is the primary federal source for these replacements. Systems that have completed inventories but not yet applied for replacement funding should treat the next six months as a priority window.

What Grant Seekers Should Do Before September 30

The IIJA expiration creates a tiered urgency structure. Not every program requires immediate action, but several categories of grant seekers face genuine deadlines.

If you have an active IIJA-funded project: Ensure your grant agreement is fully executed and your project timeline is on track. Agencies will prioritize completing obligation of funds before the authorization expires. Projects that have been awarded but not yet obligated face the highest risk of administrative delay or rescission. Contact your federal program officer to confirm the obligation timeline and identify any documentation bottlenecks.

If you are waiting on a pending application: Discretionary programs with applications under review — including the final RAISE round, SS4A implementation grants, and Reconnecting Communities — will likely complete their award cycles before September 30. But agencies are operating with reduced staff and competing priorities. Follow up proactively with the relevant grant office. Do not assume silence means your application is progressing normally.

If you have not yet applied: The window for new competitive applications under most IIJA discretionary programs has effectively closed. The exception is formula-based funding distributed through states — highway safety grants, transit planning funds, and SRF water infrastructure loans. Contact your state DOT, transit agency, or environmental agency to identify remaining formula-funded opportunities that do not require a federal competitive application.

If you are planning multi-year infrastructure work: The most important action is SAM.gov registration and renewal. Any federal grant requires active SAM.gov registration, and the process can take weeks for new registrants. If your organization's registration has lapsed or you have never registered, start immediately. Do not wait for a specific funding opportunity to begin the registration process.

The Reauthorization Question

Congressional committees have begun preliminary work on surface transportation reauthorization, but no bill has been introduced. The politics are complicated: the IIJA passed with bipartisan support in 2021 but has become politically contentious as implementation exposed disagreements over EV mandates, climate provisions, and permitting requirements.

A straightforward reauthorization that extends current IIJA programs at current funding levels is unlikely. More probable is a selective reauthorization that maintains core highway, bridge, and transit formula programs while renegotiating the discretionary and climate-related components. The timeline is uncertain — Congress could pass a short-term extension before September 30, let programs lapse and negotiate during a gap period, or fold reauthorization into a broader legislative package.

For grant seekers, the reauthorization uncertainty reinforces the core message: do not assume the current programs will continue in their current form. Programs that exist today — with published NOFOs, established application processes, and available funding — may not exist in their current form next year. The strategic response is to treat the next six months as a closing window rather than an indefinite opportunity.

The infrastructure funding landscape after September 30, 2026 will look different than the one created by the IIJA in 2021. Some programs will continue under new authorization. Others will end. The organizations that capture the most value from this historic investment are the ones applying now, not the ones waiting for clarity on what comes next — and platforms like Granted can help you identify which remaining programs match your infrastructure needs before the clock runs out.