NEW JERSEY – The Murphy Administration Friday announced that the grant solicitation period for NJDOT’s Fiscal Year 2026 State Aid programs is now open.
Starting today, April 25, applications will be accepted for the Municipal Aid, Transit Village, Bikeway, and Safe Streets to Transit programs through July 1, 2025.
“Governor Murphy and the New Jersey Department of Transportation are committed to investing in municipal and county infrastructure by providing financial assistance and technical expertise for local road and bridge projects,” NJDOT Commissioner Fran O’Connor said. “Municipal Aid grants, along with our Transit Village, Bikeway, and Safe Streets to Transit programs, allow our communities to make quality-of-life and safety improvements to ensure New Jersey has a modern and efficient transportation system for all users.”
NJDOT’s grant cycles are designed to allow municipalities to incorporate awarded projects into upcoming municipal budgets, helping to ensure that important infrastructure projects get to construction sooner. Grant awards are expected to be announced in November.
The following is a brief description of each grant program:
- Municipal Aid – This $140 million program, with an additional $10 million in Urban Aid, provides a total of $150 million for local transportation projects. Municipalities are encouraged to consider projects that support walking and biking safety.
- Transit Village – Open to the 36 municipalities designated as Transit Villages by the Commissioner of Transportation and the inter-agency Transit Village Task Force. A total of $1 million is available to fund traditional and non-traditional transportation projects that enhance walking, biking, and/or transit ridership within a half-mile of a transit facility. (Approved Transit Village municipalities can be found here.)
- Bikeways – This $1 million program funds bicycle projects that create new bike path mileage. It encourages the construction of bikeways that are physically separated from motorized vehicular traffic by an open space or barrier. Both counties and municipalities are eligible.
- Safe Streets to Transit – This $1 million program encourages counties and municipalities to construct safe and accessible pedestrian linkages to transit facilities to promote transit usage for all.
An additional $17.4 million was included in the FY 2025 State Budget to distribute among these programs, increasing the total available funding to $20.4 million. This will allow for more grant awards and larger, more fully funded grants.
The grants are administered by the NJDOT Division of Local Aid and Economic Development. The Local Aid Resource Center serves as a centralized resource for local government managers, offering assistance with the application process, promoting awareness of grant cycles, and communicating program information proactively.
For more information about Local Aid programs, visit www.njdotlocalaidrc.com, call 609-649-9395, or email DOT-LocalAID.ResourceCenter@dot.nj.gov.
