The Federal Highway Administration has apportioned to states the $2 billion in additional highway formula funding from general revenues provided by the fiscal 2020 transportation appropriations act.

In a formal funding notice dated yesterday and sent to state DOTs today, FHWA distributed $1.15 billion in funding for bridge rehabilitation and construction, $781 million in general purpose funding for projects eligible under the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program, and $100 million for the Appalachian Development Highway System.

The general purpose and ADHS money goes out under the same formulas by which Highway Trust Fund contract authority goes out under those programs, and 55 percent of the general purpose money is also sub-allocated within a state by population, just like the STBGP money is. The bridge money was given out with a new needs-based formula, with each state and D.C. getting a minimum of $8.45 million and a ceiling of $50 million on the states with the most poor-condition bridges highest percentage of their total bridge deck area in poor condition.

Those states were Connecticut, West Virginia, and Rhode Island, the latter being the home of Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee ranking minority member Jack Reed (D). And by statute, the state that gets the most Appalachian highway money is Alabama (they have the most cost-to-complete left in the ADHS and the law sets a hard ceiling of 30 percent on any new apportionments), home of Senate Appropriations full committee chairman Richard Shelby (R). In both it goes to show that you can get around the earmark ban by funding or creating formula programs when your state is a clear winner of the formula.