ALDOT presents FY2026 budget picture as federal funding uncertainty looms

Ed Austin, chief engineer for the Alabama Department of Transportation, told the Joint Interim Committees the department is starting fiscal year 2026 without any confirmed federal appropriations because of a federal government shutdown and that the department has taken steps to protect projects in the near term.

Austin said ALDOT has 28 projects scheduled for its November letting, with roughly $115,000,000 in total contract value and about $90,000,000 in anticipated federal funds secured before the shutdown. He cautioned that if the shutdown continues the department will have to make decisions before the end of next week about whether to proceed with the December letting, which requires advertising 28 days in advance.

The budget presentation divided revenues between legacy federal programs and newer categories established by recent federal legislation. Austin summarized anticipated federal program amounts the department expects to manage in FY2026, including GARVEE bond debt service tied to prior A-TRIP programs, an array of federal aid categories (aid to local governments, safety, interstate maintenance, resurfacing, bridge replacement and statewide planning), and newer formula programs such as carbon reduction (about $27,000,000), PROTECT (a little over $30,000,000), a new bridge formula program (about $45,000,000), NEVI (about $17,000,000), and a small ferry boat program ($350,000).

On state revenue, Austin said the largest single state category is the match required for federal programs, which he estimated at nearly $190,000,000. He also outlined line items for routine roadway maintenance, preliminary engineering, resurfacing, bridge maintenance, traffic maintenance and emergency response, which together total on the order of the amounts reflected in ALDOT—s state public road and bridge fund summary. He said the department identified about $19,000,000 of Rebuild Alabama Act funds that historically have been used to match federal projects or to advance preliminary engineering on projects to accelerate construction.

Committee members asked clarifying questions. Senator Chris Elliott asked whether the $19,000,000 identified from Rebuild Alabama funds was targeted to a single project; Austin said it was not and described prior practice of using Rebuild Alabama dollars to pay capacity-improvement portions of projects while using federal funds for resurfacing elements already programmed in the STIP. Austin cited an I-10 widening project in Mobile County as an example where different funding sources were combined for different elements of the same contract to accelerate delivery.

Austin reiterated that some appropriations and transfers shown in the department—s budget are statutorily prescribed (for example, ATRIP2 and the local grant program) and provided the committee the statutory baselines used this year: ATRIP2 set at $40,000,000 and the local grant program set at $15,000,000 for FY2026; he said the aggregate appropriations and transfers from Rebuild Alabama used for these purposes total about $81,800,000. He also noted county federal-aid exchange balances remain small (he cited about $180,000 as the remaining balance from prior county federal-aid accounts).

Austin closed by saying the department will update the committee if the federal funding picture changes and that staff are prepared to answer more detailed questions about project-level funding and letting schedules.