Alabama Department Of Transportation

Alabama Department Of Transportation Office Engineer Division, a U.S. state government entity and child agency of the Alabama Department of Public Health, acts as the prime recipient of federal highway and transportation grants from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), delivering pavement resurfacing, safety infrastructure, and transportation system improvements across Alabama's state and local road networks.

The Office Engineer Division is a public sector transportation agency operating without SBA set-aside designations; its federal work flows through formula grant mechanisms rather than competitive procurement. The division's portfolio spans FHWA programs including the Highway Planning and Construction program (CFDA 20.205), Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (CFDA 20.287), Highway Safety Improvement Program (CFDA 20.272), State, Planning and Research Program (CFDA 20.258), and Carbon Reduction Program (CFDA 20.265). Recent representative grant work includes $18.7 million for rest area site construction on northbound I-65 near Greenville (awarded March 2026), $15.7 million for rest area building construction on northbound I-65 near Greenville (awarded March 2026), $10.2 million for resurfacing and guardrail work on State Route 38 (US-280) between State Route 63 and Dadeville Road (awarded December 2025), $6.4 million for resurfacing and guardrail installation on State Route 61 from County Road 48 to State Route 14 (awarded February 2026), and $6.0 million for roadway inventory collection and extraction supporting the Highway Safety Improvement Program and MIRE work (awarded February 2026). The Office Engineer Division has also executed cooperative agreements under the State, Planning and Research Program, including $273,700 for bridge deck concrete shrinkage evaluation (Auburn University), $281,372 for AI systems supporting traffic incident response at the North Region Traffic Management Center, and $313,337 for pollinator habitat management along roadside corridors (Auburn University).

The FHWA dominates the funding landscape, accounting for all top-five customer agencies by both award count and potential value. The Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration issued 24,880 awards representing the vast majority of the division's portfolio, with Federal Transit Administration (136 awards) and the immediate Office of the Secretary of Transportation (36 awards) as secondary funders. The division serves as Alabama's primary recipient for federal highway formula grants and has demonstrated capacity to manage concurrent, multi-year infrastructure projects across the state, with 491 awards reaching completion within the next twenty-four months, representing significant recompete activity in FY 2026–2027.

The division's work is geographically distributed across Alabama, with ultimate completion dates extending through 2031 on major projects. Recent activity has declined from peaks in 2022–2024 (1,048, 982, and 925 annual awards respectively) to 665 awards in 2025 and 189 through mid-2026, reflecting the cyclical nature of federal transportation funding allocations. The combined potential value across the portfolio totals $29 thousand against obligated dollars of $26.62 billion, indicating substantial federal cash flow supporting pavement preservation, safety improvements (guardrail installation, lane widening, signal upgrades), bridge rehabilitation, drainage repairs, and pedestrian infrastructure (sidewalks, trail extensions) across the state's transportation network.