DC Seeks Equal Funding: Bill Puts District on Par with States for Bus Grants, Road Safety Funds

The “District of Columbia Transportation Funding Equality Act” is a straightforward bill that aims to fix a quirk in federal law: making sure Washington, D.C., gets treated exactly like a state when it comes to federal transportation cash. Right now, D.C. often gets carved out or put into separate, sometimes less favorable, categories for grant funding. This bill cuts through that red tape and says, essentially, if there’s a federal pot of money for transportation, D.C. should be calculating its share the same way as everyone else.

The Bus Money Shuffle

One of the biggest changes is how D.C. accesses federal grants for buses. Section 2 amends the law governing bus grant funds (49 U.S.C. 5339) to pull D.C. out of a separate allocation category and include it directly in the main formula used to distribute funds among the states. For D.C. residents who rely on the Metrobus system—which is often the most critical transportation link for essential workers—this means the funding stream for maintaining and upgrading those buses should become more robust and predictable. It’s about ensuring that a major metropolitan area’s transit system isn't disadvantaged simply because it’s not technically a state.

Accessing the Big League Formulas

Sections 3, 4, and 5 deal with integrating D.C. into several other key grant programs. Section 3 includes D.C. in the calculations for the “growing States and high density States formula factors.” This matters because these formulas are designed to help areas experiencing rapid growth or high population density manage their infrastructure needs. For a crowded city like D.C., being included here is crucial for accessing funds that match its reality as a major urban center.

Furthermore, the bill opens up two specific grant programs to D.C. that were previously state-exclusive. Section 4 makes D.C. eligible for the National Culvert Removal, Replacement, and Restoration grant program. While “culverts” sound technical, they are critical infrastructure—small tunnels or drainage structures under roads—that, when failing, cause flooding and road closures. For a city dealing with aging infrastructure and climate change impacts, accessing this grant money helps keep the roads open. Section 5 does the same for the “Safe Streets and Roads for All” grant program, explicitly including D.C. as an eligible “State.” This program funds everything from better crosswalks to safer bike lanes, meaning more federal dollars could flow into projects that directly improve daily commutes and neighborhood safety.

The Real-World Impact and the Trade-Off

The immediate impact is a clear win for D.C.: more equitable access to billions in federal transportation dollars. For the average commuter, this translates into better-maintained roads, potentially newer buses, and safer pedestrian infrastructure. However, when you include D.C. in a formula that previously only divided money among 50 states, the math changes for everyone else. While the overall federal pot doesn't shrink, the share allocated to the existing states will likely see a minor adjustment as D.C. now takes its slice. This is the classic policy trade-off: achieving funding equality for one jurisdiction means a slight reallocation of resources from the others. But fundamentally, this bill is about procedural fairness, ensuring that a major metropolitan area with millions of daily commuters isn't penalized in funding formulas simply due to its unique political status.