More than 14 months into the current administration, the Federal Transit Administration has not signed a single new Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) for a transit capital construction project. That record — confirmed in May 2026 by Transportation for America — makes this the first administration in at least three decades to go its entire first year without approving a new major transit capital project. The result is an estimated $28 billion pipeline of eligible projects waiting for federal construction funding that is not moving.

How the Capital Investment Grants Program Works

The Federal Transit Administration's Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program is the primary federal mechanism for funding large transit construction — heavy rail, light rail, commuter rail, streetcars, bus rapid transit, and ferries. Projects compete through a multi-year development process before receiving a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) for New Starts projects or a Construction Grant Agreement for Small Starts. Congress appropriates funding annually, and the FTA advances projects based on readiness, cost-effectiveness ratings, and project development milestones.

In FY2026, Congress appropriated $3.7 billion for the CIG program — roughly $500 million below prior years' levels, but still substantial. The FY2026 annual report to Congress, issued by the Biden administration in its final months, recommended funding for five projects with existing grant agreements and identified 15 additional projects potentially ready for new construction grant agreements, requesting approximately $2.4 billion for those potential new awards.

What Has Not Happened

As of May 2026, none of those 15 identified projects has received a construction grant. The current administration's FY2027 budget request for the CIG program drops to $1.2 billion — a 63 percent reduction from the $3.7 billion enacted in FY2026. The request explicitly covers only existing grant agreements and projects "that may become ready" for construction funding, with no new project approvals recommended.

Independent transit policy analysts at HDR Inc. confirmed in April 2026 that as of their update, no projects had been approved to advance into engineering phase, and no new projects had received an FFGA during the current administration. This contrasts with normal practice, in which FTA typically advances multiple projects annually through the engineering and grant agreement pipeline.

The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) notes that the IIJA expires September 30, 2026, which has compounded the uncertainty. The advance appropriations that allowed transit agencies to plan multi-year capital programs with confidence will not renew automatically — and the combined effect of a CIG slowdown and IIJA expiration creates what NACTO calls a "looming investment cliff" for transit infrastructure nationwide.

Projects Already Under Construction

The funding freeze applies to new approvals. Several major projects that received FFGAs before the current administration remain in active construction.

The most significant is Chicago's Red Line Extension, a $5.75 billion project extending the CTA Red Line 5.5 miles south from 95th Street to 130th Street on the city's Far South Side. Construction began in spring 2026, with column drilling and concrete foundation work underway. Four new stations — at 103rd, 111th, Michigan, and 130th streets — will be constructed, along with a new rail yard. The extension is expected to open in 2030 and will provide rapid rail transit to a part of the city that has never had it, creating more than 12,500 construction jobs and an estimated 59,800 indirect jobs.

New York City's Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 also holds an FFGA, extending the Q train from 96th Street to 125th Street on Manhattan's East Side as the second of four planned phases of the Second Avenue Subway. The total project cost is approximately $7.7 billion, with the federal CIG share comprising a significant portion of the funding stack.

The Hudson Tunnel Project — connecting New Jersey to Manhattan under the Hudson River as part of the Gateway Program — also has an FFGA and remains in development, though it has faced separate political headwinds over federal funding commitments in 2026.

The Pipeline Waiting for Approval

The FTA CIG dashboard currently lists 46 eligible projects — two Core Capacity, 12 New Starts, and 32 Small Starts — with total CIG funding requests exceeding $28 billion. These projects span major metros including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Denver, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Seattle, and St. Louis, covering light rail extensions, BRT corridors, commuter rail improvements, and ferry projects.

Many of these projects have been in the federal development pipeline for years. The cost of delay is not zero: project costs continue to escalate with inflation, design and engineering teams must be maintained, and local funding commitments can become politically difficult to sustain without confirmed federal partnership. The HDR analysis notes that CIG funding requests across the pipeline are 24 times the FY2027 budget request — a mismatch that suggests many projects face significant uncertainty about the path to construction.

What This Means for the Construction Industry

For contractors, subcontractors, and construction material suppliers with transit infrastructure expertise, the current environment creates a bifurcated market. Projects with existing FFGAs — particularly the Chicago Red Line Extension and Second Avenue Subway — represent active, large-scale bid opportunities. But the broader pipeline of projects seeking first-time federal approval is in a holding pattern of uncertain duration.

Surface transportation reauthorization, expected to be negotiated in 2026 ahead of the IIJA's September 30 expiration, will be pivotal. Whether Congress sustains CIG funding at or near IIJA levels — and whether USDOT begins advancing projects in the pipeline — will determine the pace of transit construction activity nationally for years to come.

Sources

Transportation for America — USDOT's Failure to Advance New Transit Projects (May 2026) | FTA — Current Capital Investment Grant Projects (April 2026) | HDR Inc. — Federal Transit Policy & Funding Update (April 2026) | Metro Magazine — Chicago Red Line Extension Construction Begins (April 2026) | NACTO — Federal Funding Package and Transit (February 2026)