Who has control over the hundreds of billions in federal and state transportation dollars for transportation projects? Who are the entities involved in spending this money? Start here to find out more about the people you need to know and how to start influencing them.
State DOTs: Why they have so much control and money
State departments of transportation (DOTs) are responsible for directing hundreds of billions in federal and state transportation dollars to transportation projects. Despite a common impression that USDOT controls spending, Congress gives states near-total flexibility to spend federal money however the states see fit. This means that state DOTs have the primary role in shaping the priorities of our nation’s transportation systems. Read more about state DOTs >>
MPOs: Important regional decision makers with limited authority and money
Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are regional organizations that allow jurisdictions across a region to collaborate on planning and spending a portion of federal transportation funding in areas with a population of 50,000 and over. While important, they have less authority and control less money than state DOTs do. Read more about MPOs >>
USDOT: Why the federal government has less control than you think
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) implements the federal transportation policy passed by Congress and signed by the President. Though most federal dollars are controlled by states, USDOT interprets and implements federal transportation policy, manages some important competitive grant programs, and provides oversight of America’s transportation dollars. Read more about USDOT >>
Advocacy 101: How to start influencing them
Advocacy 101: The advocacy lifecycle
Over the course of your advocacy, you’ll need to cultivate productive relationships with elected officials and learn how to lobby them, build coalitions of support, and communicate to win. And win or lose, you’ll have to consider how to evaluate success or failure and chart new courses of action. Read more about the advocacy lifecycle >>
10 tips for building relationships
You will absolutely need to build productive relationships with decision makers to influence public policy, from friendly champions to those who are opposed. These relationships will often require building bridges to people with views you disagree with. Here are some tips for building productive relationships without forfeiting your own values or positions >>
Lobbying 101
State and local transportation departments and agencies have some discretion over their spending priorities, but much of that discretion is limited by legislative guardrails. Which means that advancing a good project or stopping a bad one means lobbying legislators to some degree. Learn more about the legal definitions of lobbying and some tips for getting started >>
Community Connectors: tools for advocates
You may be fighting against a freeway expansion. You may be trying to advance a Reconnecting Communities project to remove an old highway. You might be just trying to make wide, dangerous arterial roads a little safer for people to cross. This Community Connectors portal explains common terms, decodes the processes, clarifies the important actors, and inspires with helpful real-world stories.
Thank you
We are grateful to support from the Summit Foundation, the Barr Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for their support of various pieces of this ongoing project.Read about our grantees
We’re supporting 15 teams from small to mid-sized cities with plans to reconnect communities separated or harmed by transportation infrastructure.
Learn more about these 15 projects
