The U.S. Treasury has approved $112 million in Capital Projects Fund (CPF) money for the state of Rhode Island. That comprises the state’s entire allocation in the CPF program.
Most of the funding ($81.7 million) will be used for multi-purpose community facilities. The other $25 million will be used for broadband infrastructure to connect 7,500 homes and businesses. Those locations comprise about 30% of locations still lacking high-speed access in the state.
The deployment funding will be administered through the ConnectRI Broadband Deployment Program that targets areas lacking service at speeds of 100/20 Mbps. The program is administered by the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation.
The community facilities funding will be made available to the state’s 39 municipalities based on municipalities’ population, per capita income, and other factors, according to a U.S. Treasury press release.
The Capital Projects Fund has a total budget of $10 billion. Funding will be administered by the states following guidelines established by Treasury.
All but four states have now been approved to receive at least a portion of their CPF allotment.
The Rhode Island Capital Projects Fund dollars are almost identical to the $109 million in funding that the state has been allotted through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, a $42.5 billion program aimed at ensuring that everyone in the U.S. is connected to high-speed broadband.
As a small densely populated state, Rhode Island has fewer unserved and underserved locations in comparison with most other states. Nevertheless, every state was allocated at least $100 million in the BEAD program
