Skip to main content

USDoT goes 'back to basics' by rescinding Biden-era memos

Transport funding memos were part of 'radical social and environmental agenda'
By Adam Hill March 11, 2025 Read time: 1 min
USDoT is 'building critical infrastructure projects that move people and move commerce safely' © Brett Critchley | Dreamstime.com)

The US Department of Transportation has further signalled the Trump administration's desire to break with the past by rescinding transport funding memos issued during President Joe Biden's time in the White House.

USDoT now says that the two separate memorandums, both called 'Policy on Using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Resources to Build a Better America', "injected a social justice and environmental agenda into decisions for critical infrastructure projects" and were "in conflict with Congressional intent and the Administrative Procedure Act".

"These Biden-era memos displaced the long-standing authorities granted to states by law, added meritless and costly burdens related to greenhouse gas emissions and equity initiatives," USDoT's statement continues.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Transportation is getting back to basics — building critical infrastructure projects that move people and move commerce safely," says transportation secretary Sean P. Duffy. "The previous administration flouted Congress in an attempt to push a radical social and environmental agenda on the American people. This was an act of federal overreach. It stops now.”

The decision "affirms that these Biden-era policies have no basis in statute and have no role in DoT programmes going forward".  

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Sustainability and inclusivity: a multimodal approach from EIT Urban Mobility
    January 2, 2024
    Cities are frontrunners of the green transition. But scaling sustainable transport solutions quickly is going to require cooperation, says Maria Tsavachidis of EIT Urban Mobility
  • NSC to prioritise VRU safety
    July 4, 2022
    Emphasis on pedestrians as US safety group admits: 'What we're doing isn't working'
  • Colorado signs exec order to support transition to ZEVs
    January 25, 2019
    Governor of Colorado Jared Polis has signed an executive order which outlines a suite of initiatives to support a transition to zero emission vehicles (ZEV) in the US state. Polis says: “Our goal is to reach 100% renewable electricity by 2040 and embrace the green energy transition already underway economy-wide” He believes the public health and environmental benefits of widespread transportation electrification will increase as the state moves towards a cleaner electric grid. The initiatives include
  • San Francisco's Presidio Parkway completed
    July 14, 2015
    The long-awaited Presidio Parkway in San Francisco has opened to traffic. The US$1.1 billion project relied on US$363 million in federal funds, as well as US$152.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and a US$150 million Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan. Since work began in 2009, the Presidio Parkway project replaced Doyle Drive, a 1.6-mile segment of SR-101 linking the city to the Golden Gate Bridge, connecting Marin and San Francisco counties, a