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

  • GHSA warns of racism in traffic enforcement
    September 28, 2020
    'No highway safety programme can survive without public trust,' it says
  • Rail industry, regulators debate feasibility of PTC
    March 10, 2014
    US rail industry officials and federal accident regulators have disagreed about the viability of a looming mandate that most US railways be equipped with automated control systems by the end of next year. Congress is requiring that most major railroad companies install automated systems known as positive train control (PTC) by December 2015. Automated train systems have gained renewed attention after a spate of high-profile accidents on passenger and freight railways, including most recently a Decem
  • Intertraffic 2022 gets ready for business
    January 27, 2022
    Relaxation of Dutch Covid rules means event at RAI Amsterdam will have 'usual occupancy'
  • Oklahoma DOT opts for IRD WIM screening system
    May 29, 2015
    Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) has awarded International Road Dynamics (IRD) a US$2.54 million project to build, implement, and maintain a new and innovative port-of-entry (POE) electronic screening system (ESS) for commercial vehicles at Interstate-40 westbound, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. This contract includes the supply and installation of IRD's weigh-in-motion (WIM) and intelligent roadside operation credentialing (iROC) system utilising license plate reader (LPR) and USDOT reader technolo