On May 22, 2026, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the BUILD America 250 Act — short for Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America's 250th Act — by a sweeping bipartisan vote of 62 to 2. The legislation, introduced just days earlier by Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) and Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA), represents the first serious legislative vehicle for replacing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), whose surface transportation provisions expire September 30, 2026. For the construction industry, the bill's scope, funding levels, and programmatic structure will shape the pipeline of highway, bridge, transit, and rail work through 2031.

A $580 Billion Five-Year Framework

The BUILD America 250 Act authorizes approximately $580 billion over fiscal years 2027 through 2031, according to a detailed analysis by Holland & Knight. Of that total, $474.4 billion is provided as Highway Trust Fund contract authority — guaranteed, multiyear money that contractors and state DOTs can rely on when planning and bidding projects. The remaining roughly $106 billion would be subject to annual appropriations, a meaningful distinction from the IIJA, which included general fund advance appropriations that gave agencies more spending certainty.

The modal breakdowns, per Holland & Knight's analysis, are:

• Federal Highway Administration: $376 billion
• Federal Transit Administration: $87.6 billion
• Federal Railroad Administration: $64.7 billion, including $31.1 billion for Amtrak
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: $5.7 billion
• Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: $5 billion

The FHWA allocation alone — $376 billion over five years — would sustain a robust national highway and bridge construction program, though at levels that infrastructure advocates argue still fall short of the nation's documented needs.

Bridges: The Largest Investment Ever Proposed

One of the most significant construction provisions in the bill is its bridge program. The BUILD America 250 Act proposes a revised Bridge Formula Program funded at $9.2 billion per year in Highway Trust Fund contract authority, plus a Bridge Completion Program at $2 billion per year (subject to future appropriations). Combined, that represents the largest proposed federal bridge investment in U.S. history, according to the House T&I Committee's announcement.

The formula program would require states to set aside 25 percent of funds for a competitive process targeting locally owned bridge projects, with the federal cost share for those bridges set at 95 percent — reducing the match burden on counties and municipalities that own the majority of the nation's structurally deficient bridges, as noted by the National League of Cities. The bill also establishes an interagency bridge strike working group and commissions a study on corrosion on weathering steel bridges.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, which gave U.S. bridges a C+ in its 2025 Infrastructure Report Card, noted the bridge investment aligns with its reauthorization recommendations.

Highway Trust Fund Reform: New Revenue After Three Decades

The Highway Trust Fund, which finances most federal surface transportation programs, has faced a structural revenue shortfall for decades as fuel efficiency improvements eroded the purchasing power of the federal gas tax, which has not been raised since 1993. The BUILD America 250 Act injects the fund with its first new revenue stream in over 30 years by requiring states to collect annual EV registration fees: $130 per year for battery-electric vehicles and $35 per year for plug-in hybrids, escalating biennially beginning in 2029 and capped at $150 and $50 respectively.

The revenue impact is modest — Holland & Knight estimates less than $10 billion in the first five years and approximately $29 billion over the first decade — but the policy signal is significant. The ASCE's Infrastructure Report Card called it an important step toward sustainable funding.

Discretionary Programs and Project Delivery

The bill creates a new Surface Transportation Accelerator Grant (STAG) program at $2.4 billion per year, consolidating previously standalone discretionary grant programs. Fifty percent of STAG funds go to local and regional grants, 25 percent to rural communities, and 25 percent to urban areas, per the National League of Cities.

The legislation also emphasizes project delivery reform. It cuts red tape in the infrastructure project process, allows states more flexibility to prioritize their needs, and creates the first-ever federal framework for autonomous commercial motor vehicles operating in interstate commerce — a provision with significant long-term implications for freight construction and logistics infrastructure.

Notably, the bill repeals the Carbon Reduction Program and eliminates formula funding for the PROTECT resilience program while retaining a $2.5 billion discretionary PROTECT grant program. It also repeals the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhood Access and Equity grant programs, per the ASCE analysis.

What Still Needs to Happen Before September 30

While the House T&I Committee vote was a significant milestone, the BUILD America 250 Act faces a long road to enactment. As of May 25, 2026, the Senate has not released its own bill text. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), has held multiple hearings on reauthorization since 2025 but has not advanced formal legislation. Senate Banking, Commerce, and Finance committees also hold jurisdiction over portions of the bill.

Industry groups note that a near-term extension of the IIJA's current authorities is widely expected if bicameral negotiations extend past September 30, as has occurred in virtually every surface transportation reauthorization cycle since the late 1990s, according to the Politico Transportation newsletter. An extension would maintain current funding levels and programs but provide no new authorization.

For the construction industry, the BUILD America 250 Act's committee approval nonetheless matters. It sets the legislative benchmark for the next five-year federal investment cycle and signals that Congress is serious about maintaining — and in bridge programs, substantially increasing — federal infrastructure commitment. The National Association of Manufacturers called the bill a step toward the "robust $600 billion investment" it had urged for the reauthorization.

The Construction Industry's Stake

The stakes for contractors are substantial. Federal surface transportation programs directly fund the highway, bridge, transit, and rail contracts that form the core of heavy civil construction backlogs across the country. Under the IIJA, highway construction spending reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $147.8 billion in March 2026, per U.S. Census Bureau data — part of a broader public construction total of $526.4 billion annually.

A seamless transition from the IIJA to a successor bill — whether the BUILD America 250 Act or a negotiated compromise — would preserve that pipeline with minimal disruption. A prolonged lapse or a short-term extension covering only months at a time could delay contract lettings and force state DOTs to defer projects, rippling through contractor backlogs and employment levels in the second half of 2026 and into 2027.

Sources

U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee — BUILD America 250 Act page (May 22, 2026)
Graves & Larsen announcement of BUILD America 250 Act (May 17, 2026)
Holland & Knight Alert — BUILD America 250 Act: House Surface Transportation Reauthorization (May 19, 2026)
ASCE Infrastructure Report Card — House Advances BUILD America 250 Surface Transportation Bill (May 22, 2026)
National League of Cities — Congress' Next Transportation Bill BUILDs toward Local Priorities (May 20, 2026)
Utility Contractor Magazine — U.S. House T&I Committee Approves BUILD America 250 Act (May 22, 2026)
U.S. Census Bureau — Monthly Construction Spending, March 2026 (May 7, 2026)
Politico Weekly Transportation — Surface Bill Text Drops (May 18, 2026)