SPEED Act

This bill changes which small transportation projects can skip lengthy environmental reviews. It adjusts the money limits used to decide if a project counts as “limited Federal assistance.” The cap on the amount of Federal money a project can get is lowered from $6 million to $2 million, while the cap on a project’s total cost is raised from $35 million to $70 million. Projects that meet both limits may qualify for a quicker review process under existing law .

In plain terms, some projects with very little Federal funding but higher overall costs could move faster, while projects getting more than $2 million in Federal funds would no longer qualify for this faster track. This mainly affects state and local transportation agencies and the communities they serve, by potentially speeding up certain small road and bridge projects that don’t rely much on Federal dollars .

• Who is affected: State and local transportation projects with limited Federal funding
• What changes:
  • Federal funding cap drops from $6M to $2M
  • Total project cost cap rises from $35M to $70M
• Why it matters: More projects with small Federal shares could get quicker approvals, helping them start sooner