On September 30, 2026, the surface transportation authorities of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) expired. Congress then passed a continuing resolution that extends highway and transit programs until December 11, 2026, but without the IIJA advance appropriations. The Bridge Formula Program, which distributed $5.5 billion a year to the states from 2022, was funded through those advance appropriations. So for the first time in five years, the largest dedicated source of federal bridge funding has no confirmed amount for the next fiscal year.

Federal bridge programs as of October 2026

Under the extension, the formula programs of the Highway Trust Fund continue at pro-rated levels until December 11, and contract authority for some discretionary programs, including the Bridge Investment Program, is extended until September 30, 2027. The advance appropriations of Division J of the IIJA, which included the Bridge Formula Program, are not part of it, and NACo estimated that without them overall funding levels would fall by more than 15%.

In the House, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the BUILD America 250 Act on May 22, 2026, by 62 votes to 2. The bill would authorize about $580 billion for fiscal years 2027 to 2031. For bridges, it would create a formula program of $9.2 billion a year from the Highway Trust Fund, with 20% reserved for off-system bridges and 25% for a competitive process for locally owned bridges, where the federal share rises to 95%. In the competitive bridge program, innovative technologies would be an additional project consideration, and digital infrastructure, sensors and software included, would become eligible under the Surface Transportation Block Grant program. By late September the Senate had not yet released its own bill.

The SMART grant program, created by the IIJA with $100 million a year for technology demonstrations, is the federal program that funded a bridge monitoring system most directly. The Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2026 reallocated about $205 million of its unobligated balances, and USDOT presented the third round of Stage 1 grants as the final one, while existing agreements will be honored. The BUILD America 250 Act would reauthorize SMART, subject to annual appropriations.

Where monitoring can be located in a federal-aid project

Under the IIJA, Bridge Formula Program funds covered replacement, rehabilitation, preservation, protection and construction of highway bridges, and every bridge in the National Bridge Inventory was eligible regardless of condition. In its questions and answers on the program, FHWA gives bridge washing and deck sealing as examples of eligible preservation activities, while monitoring is not discussed as an activity of its own. So a monitoring system is easier to fund as part of a project with an eligible purpose than as a separate purchase.

The purpose is clear in a few cases. For example, on a rehabilitation, sensors installed before and after the work measure whether the stiffness of the structure changed as expected. In case of a scour critical bridge, monitoring can be part of the plan of action. In each case the monitoring cost belongs to a project with an eligible purpose, and the FHWA division office confirms eligibility project by project.

Technology programs work differently, because there the monitoring is the whole point of a project. The West Virginia Department of Transportation used a $820,000 FY2022 Stage 1 SMART grant to install a structural health monitoring system on the East Huntington Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge over the Ohio River, chosen because of its complex structure. After an earthquake in the region, engineers used the data to confirm quickly that the bridge had no major damage. The state planned to apply for a Stage 2 grant, up to $15 million over 36 months, to extend the system to other bridges.

Data as documentation of the investment

Federal funding comes with reporting, and the condition rating is a slow measure of whether a bridge investment worked. From a better rating after a rehabilitation, engineers know that the work was done, but not how the structure responds under traffic or how long the result will last. As a consequence, applications for the next round often rely on condition ratings and project costs, with little measured evidence.

With continuous data, owners can attach numbers to the application. Engineers can document the change in stiffness after a deck replacement with the shift in the fundamental frequency, measured with accelerometers and the Modal Analysis Tool, and the change in load distribution after a girder repair with the deflection under traffic before and after the work. With a year of data after the work, they can also verify whether the result is stable. With scheduled reports in MyMove, this record is ready in the form a grant report or a benefit-cost analysis needs.

This matters most for bridges in fair condition, the largest category in the US inventory and the cheapest to preserve, as discussed in our analysis of fair-rated bridges. In funding decisions, preservation projects are weighed against replacements, and measured data on a fair bridge are a stronger argument for preserving it now than a visual rating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Bridge Formula Program funds pay for a monitoring system?

Not as a stand-alone purchase in most cases. Monitoring is easier to fund as part of a rehabilitation, preservation or protection project, where it measures the result of the work, and the FHWA division office confirms eligibility for each project.

Is the SMART program still open to new applications?

No new rounds are expected under the IIJA. The 2026 appropriations reallocated about $205 million of unobligated SMART funds, while existing Stage 1 and Stage 2 agreements will be honored. The BUILD America 250 Act would reauthorize the program, subject to annual appropriations.

What can owners prepare while the new law is negotiated?

A list of bridges where measured data would support a rehabilitation, preservation or rating decision, and baseline data on the most critical of them. A baseline recorded before a project starts is the only part of the documentation that cannot be collected afterwards.