The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced that it has awarded nearly $80 million in grants to states and educational institutions to enhance commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety.
“These awards of nearly $80 million represent the highest funding level for these critical safety grants to enhance commercial motor vehicle and road safety,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao in a statement.
FMCSA announced the following grants:
- $45 million in high priority (HP) grants to enhance states’ commercial motor vehicle safety efforts, as well as advance technological capabilities within states.
- $32.7 million in commercial driver’s license program implementation (CDLPI) grants to enhance efforts by states to improve the national commercial driver’s license (CDL) program.
- $2 million in commercial motor vehicle operator safety training (CMVOST) grants to 20 educational institutions to help train veterans for jobs as commercial bus and truck drivers.
“This critical funding will support FMCSA’s state and local safety partners and illustrates the Trump administration’s commitment to reducing crashes and improving safety on America’s roadways. These funds will go directly to where they are needed the most—our states, local communities, and educational institutions,” said FMCSA Deputy Administrator Jim Mullen.
FMCSA’s HP grant program consists of HP-commercial motor vehicle (HP-CMV) grants and HP-innovative Technology Deployment (HP-ITD) grants. HP-CMV grants are designed to provide financial assistance to state commercial vehicle safety efforts, while HP-ITD grants provide financial assistance to advance the technological capability and promote the deployment of intelligent transportation system applications for CMV operations. A full list of this year’s HP grant recipients is available here.
FMCSA’s CDLPI grant program provides financial assistance to states to achieve compliance with FMCSA regulations concerning driver’s license standards and programs. Additionally, the CDLPI grant program provides financial assistance to other entities capable of executing national projects that aid states in their compliance efforts, which aim to improve the national CDL program. A full listing of this year’s CDLPI grant recipients can be found here.
FMCSA’s CMVOST grant program awards grants to a variety of educational institutions that provide commercial truck and bus driving training, including accredited public or private colleges, universities, vocational-technical schools, post-secondary educational institutions, truck driver training schools, associations, and state and local governments, including federally recognized Native American tribal governments. A full listing of this year’s grant recipients can be found here.
In total, the agency stated that nearly 60% of FMCSA’s funding is provided to states and local communities through grant funding.
