WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) has awarded more than $76 million in grants to states and educational institutions to increase commercial motor vehicle safety. In a Sept. 8 statement, FMCSA announced that all 50 states, along with the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are slated to receive federal funds.
The FMCSA grants include:
- $45.2 million in high priority (HP) grants to enhance states’ commercial motor vehicle safety efforts and advance technological capabilities within states.
The 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 for states’ 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. To review a full list of this year’s HP grant recipients, click here.
- $29 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.
The CDLPI grant program provides financial assistance to states to help them achieve compliance with FMCSA regulations concerning driver’s license standards and programs. In addition, the program provides financial assistance to other entities that are capable of executing national projects to aid states in their compliance efforts, which will improve the national CDL program. A full listing of this year’s CDLPI grant recipients can be seen here.
- $2 million in commercial motor vehicle operator safety training (CMV-OST) grants to 21 educational institutions to help train U.S. military veterans for jobs as commercial drivers.
The CMV-OST 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. For a full listing of this year’s CMV-OST grant recipients, click here.
In addition to the grants noted above, in May/April 2021, FMCSA awarded more than $304 million in motor carrier safety assistance program (MCSAP) grants. These funds will help state and local law enforcement agencies to use about 12,000 enforcement personnel to help reduce the number and severity of crashes and hazardous materials incidents involving commercial motor vehicles. For a full list of 2021 MCSAP grants, click here.
In total, nearly 60% of FMCSA’s funding is provided to states and local communities through grant funding; all funding is intended to enhance commercial vehicle safety.
“At FMCSA and USDOT our mission is to ensure that all road users, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, reach their destination safely,” said FMCSA Deputy Administrator Meera Joshi. “Together these grants represent the administration’s commitment to supporting strong state and local partnerships to reach our national goal of reducing commercial vehicle-involved crashes and saving lives.”
The USDOT is also working through the White House Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force to address truck driver retention issues.
To learn more about FMCSA grants, click here.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
