AZ State Match Advantage for Rural Transportation (SMART) Fund

About the Program

The AZ SMART Fund was established by the Arizona Legislature in 2022 to assist eligible cities, towns, counties and the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) in competing for federal discretionary surface transportation grants. Only those applicants pursuing a federal discretionary grant may apply for AZ SMART funding.

The Fund is administered by ADOT, and all awards must be approved by the State Transportation Board (STB). The AZ SMART monies are allocated to certain Funding Categories as shown in the AZ SMART Program dashboard. The dashboard includes all applicants, projects and awards to date, and the data can be sorted, filtered or downloaded. This information is updated after each STB meeting. 

Eligible Projects

Projects eligible for AZ SMART are surface transportation projects including road, bridge, transit, rail, and related facilities such as bicycle and pedestrian paths, trails, etc., which are eligible for the federal grant identified by the applicant in its AZ SMART application. Applicants should consult the US Department of Transportation's Federal Discretionary Grant dashboard, federal statutes establishing the applicable federal grant or the Notice of Funding Opportunity for eligible surface transportation project types. 

Eligible Applicants

Eligible Applicants for the AZ SMART Program are those entities eligible to receive, and are pursuing, a federal discretionary grant for surface transportation purposes. Applicants must be identified in federal statute or a current NOFO or NOFA for the specific grant as an Eligible Applicant.

Eligible Uses

Applicants may request AZ SMART Funds for any of the following eligible uses associated with developing a project for, applying for, or providing a local, non-federal match on a federal grant. Certain restrictions and deadlines apply. 

• Reimbursement of up to 50% of the eligible costs associated with Grant Development and Submission of an application for a federal discretionary grant. Limited to counties with a population of less than 100,000 and cities and towns with a population of less than 10,000. 
• Reimbursement of non-federal match for a federal grant. 
• Reimbursement of design and other engineering services expenditures that meet federal standards for projects eligible for a federal grant. For the purposes of the AZ SMART Fund, design and other engineering services includes preliminary engineering through final design related to a road, bridge, rail or transit infrastructure construction project that the Applicant intends to submit for a federal grant in a future year. The federal discretionary grant agreement must be submitted within 2 years of the date AZ SMART funding was awarded by the STB. 

In 2024, the Legislature significantly amended the AZ SMART program. The STB approved the Request for Grant Applications and Agreement (RFGAA) on October 18, 2024. Applications are continuously accepted based on the availability of funding. Please see the RFGAA for additional information regarding the AZ SMART program. Questions may be submitted to [email protected].