House Committee Unveils $293.9 Billion IIJA Successor Bill Through 2031
According to Pit & Quarry, leaders of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee introduced a bipartisan five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill in May 2026 as the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act approaches its September expiration.
What’s in the Bill
The BUILD America 250 Act, formally the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure & Long-term Development for America’s 250th Act, would authorize $293.9 billion for federal-aid highway programs from fiscal 2027 through 2031. The bill also includes new funding for bridges, transit, rail, and other transportation programs.
Committee Chairman Rep. Sam Graves (R-Missouri) released the bill’s text alongside Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Washington), making it a bipartisan effort from the start. Graves called it “the most important surface transportation bill since President Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System.” More than $50 billion of the total is directed specifically at bridges, which Graves described as “the largest such investment in our history.”
The bill would also inject the Highway Trust Fund with its first new revenue stream in more than three decades and would require electric vehicle owners to contribute to road funding. Additional priorities include cutting red tape to accelerate project delivery, boosting safety, and giving states more flexibility in how they run surface transportation programs.
The House T&I Committee spent the past year and a half holding hearings and collecting input, receiving more than 11,000 individual policy recommendations from House members and the broader infrastructure stakeholder community.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- The IIJA expires this September, meaning highway, bridge, and civil subcontractors face a potential funding gap if the BUILD America 250 Act doesn’t advance quickly through Congress.
- The $50 billion-plus bridge investment signals continued strong demand for bridge construction and rehabilitation work, a key revenue stream for civil contractors across the US.
- Red tape reduction and faster project delivery timelines, if enacted, could shorten the gap between contract award and actual work starting on the ground.
- The new Highway Trust Fund revenue stream is worth watching. A more stable funding baseline reduces the stop-and-start project cycles that create scheduling headaches for subcontractors.
- This is still a bill, not law. Subcontractors should track the reauthorization fight closely and avoid banking on new program funding until legislation is signed.
