FTA Releases Final Policy Guidance for Capital Investment Grants

FTA released its final policy guidance for the Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program Nov. 12. The 2025 CIG Policy Guidance incorporates amendments to the CIG Policy Guidance that were proposed in August that adjusted measurements for the Environmental Benefits and Land Use Project Justification criteria under the program. The 2025 CIG Policy Guidance is effective immediately and project sponsors must follow the new amended guidance.

APTA submitted comments to FTA in September on the proposed changes to the CIG guidance supporting the changes to the Environmental Benefits criterion that replaced existing methodology using vehicle miles traveled with the Environmental Protection Agency National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The CIG Policy Guidance includes these changes.

FTA also proposed to change the Land Use Criterion to no longer require project sponsors to utilize Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Homeland Infrastructure Foundational-Level Data (HIFLD) on urgent care centers. APTA supported this change but urged FTA to consider adjusting rating benchmarks to reflect the loss of data. However, after FTA requested comments, DHS discontinued the entire HIFLD data set. Because this data set is no longer available, FTA will not adjust the rating benchmarks. FTA will review other data sets and consider incorporating them into future CIG policy revisions.