Pennsylvania is steering $54 million into 50 transportation projects spread across 27 counties, with the single largest chunk of money — $3 million — going toward renovating the Boulevard of the Allies in Pittsburgh's Central Business District. The city is also picking up an additional $739,007 for overhead lane control signal upgrades, making it the biggest municipal winner in this latest round of state grants.
The money comes from the Multimodal Transportation Fund, a Commonwealth Financing Authority program that Governor Josh Shapiro's administration has used to fund highway, bridge, aviation, port, bicycle, and pedestrian projects, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Since Shapiro took office, the state has now invested $197 million into local communities through the fund, PennDOT says. Grants under the program are capped at $3 million per project and require a minimum total project cost of $100,000, per the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development.
Outside of Pittsburgh, Montgomery County municipalities pulled in some of the more consequential local awards. Cheltenham Township secured $2.79 million to replace the Tookany Creek Parkway bridge, while Lower Moreland Township landed $1.2 million to build access infrastructure for a new fire rescue station, according to Glenside Local. Those two projects illustrate how the fund's money reaches beyond marquee downtown corridors and into the kind of suburban bridge and emergency-services work that rarely makes headlines on its own.
A Bigger Pot Than Last Time
The $54 million announced this cycle is a step up from December 2025, when the Shapiro administration distributed $47 million across 54 projects in 34 counties. The state's Multimodal Transportation Fund supports improvements meant to enhance communities, boost pedestrian safety, and revitalize transit, and this round's smaller number of projects with a larger total dollar figure suggests some awards, like Pittsburgh's, are running larger than in prior years.
Local governments and organizations hoping to tap the next round won't have to wait long. PennDOT has confirmed the application window for the next Multimodal Transportation Fund cycle opens September 14, 2026, and closes October 30, 2026, at 4 p.m.
The Bigger Infrastructure Picture
State infrastructure records show that under Shapiro's administration, Pennsylvania has completed improvements on 20,538 miles of roadway and advanced repairs on 1,898 state and local bridges as of August 2026. The Multimodal Transportation Fund is just one piece of that effort — Pennsylvania also distributed $74 million in May 2026 through the federal Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside program, funding 72 active-transportation, bike, and sidewalk projects across 38 counties, as Hoodline previously reported.
That steady stream of grant money runs against a backdrop of structural funding pressure. Liquid fuels gas taxes account for roughly 55 percent of all state-level transportation revenues, according to PennDOT planning studies, a revenue source that's expected to erode as vehicles become more fuel-efficient. To help offset that pressure, the state legislature capped Motor License Fund transfers to the State Police at $250 million in fiscal year 2023–24, per the Pennsylvania State Senate, reducing that annual diversion by $50 million until it's eliminated entirely by 2028–29 and freeing up more fee revenue for road and bridge work.
The stakes behind that funding shift are significant. Roughly 13 percent of Pennsylvania's nearly 33,000 bridges — 4,293 spans — remained in poor condition as of mid-2026, with Allegheny County alone carrying 205 poor-rated structures, Hoodline reported in its earlier look at crumbling bridges statewide. Grants like Cheltenham's bridge replacement award are a small dent in that backlog, but they represent the kind of targeted, localized fix the Multimodal Transportation Fund was designed to deliver.
