FHWA Announces Low-Carbon Transportation Materials Program

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced the details of the Low-Carbon Transportation Materials (LCTM) program on March 12, 2024. The program, established under Section 60506 of the Inflation Reduction Act, aims to increase the use of materials that have "substantially lower levels of embodied greenhouse gas emissions" as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency. The FHWA will award up to $2 billion in LCTM program funding, with $1.2 billion currently available to states through the Request for Application (RFA) process. The remaining $800 million will be made available to eligible city and county DOTs in around three months.

WJE can help clients in the funding application process from the Reduced-Carbon Concrete Consortium (RC3), a group dedicated to:

• Disseminating funding information
• Assisting with identification of qualifying projects
• Facilitating with RFA submissions
• Contractor preparedness with critical next steps, such as understanding and applying Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)

WJE Principal Tom Van Dam, one of the RC3 leaders and an author of the Guide for Reducing the Cradle-to-Gate Embodied Carbon Emissions of Paving Concrete, states, "It is a great opportunity for the construction industry. RC3 is here to help agencies and contractors secure funding and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our infrastructure—something concrete, as a material, is well positioned to do."

For more information about the LCTM program, contact WJE Principal Todd Nelson or Tom Van Dam.