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Louisiana's Nomination of Hydrogen and Electric Vehicle Corridors Approved by FHWA

Posted by admin on Jul. 6, 2022  /  Electric Vehicles, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Clean Fuels Infrastructure, Clean Cities and Communities  /  Subscribe 0

Approval of Alternative Fuel Corridors by the FHWA Allows Our State to Spend $73 million in NEVI funding to construct an electric vehicle charging network on Designated interstate corridors.

On July 6, 2022, the FHWA Announced the Round 6 Alternative Fuel Corridor Designations. We are pleased to announce that all of our Hydrogen and EV nominations were accepted by the FHWA!

Louisiana already designated "complete" Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Propane (LPG) corridors on most of our interstate highways from previous rounds of the FHWA Alternative Fuel Corridor nomination process. What we lacked were Electric Vehicle and Hydrogen corridors. In order to create cohesive interstate fueling corridors, our state DOTD worked with DOTs in neighboring states on their respective nominations to ensure continuous coverage for travelers across state lines. The result was a successful bid to designate both Hydrogen and Electric Vehicle corridors for Louisiana highways.

Electric Vehicle Corridors

These EV nominations are a critical part of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure formula funding requirements that will allow our Department of Transportation and Development (LA DOTD) to utilize the approximately $73 million dollars allotted to our state for the purpose of building out EV fast charging infrastructure on our interstate corridors. The next step in the process is to submit our state EV Charging Infrastructure Plan to the FHWA by August 1, 2022 for approval. Once our state plan is approved, the LA DOTD can begin the process of rolling out a competitive grant program that will allow public and private entities to apply for funding to install DC Fast Chargers that comply with the programs specifications. To view the Louisiana draft plan and share feedback with the LA DOTD, visit: https://lcf.mysocialpinpoint.com/la_ev_plan

Approved EV Corridors, Round 6

Hydrogen Corridors

The LA DOTD, assisted by LCF, also nominated many of our interstate highways for Hydrogen. While there are no hydrogen vehicle fueling stations in our state currently, these nominations lay the groundwork for future development. Specifically, the Governor’s Climate Initiatives Task Force has pinpointed the industrial switch to Low & No-Carbon Hydrogen as one of the three interconnected policy pillars for Louisiana’s action plan to reach Net-Zero carbon emissions by 2050. On March 10, 2022, Governors John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas announced a bipartisan three-state partnership, “HALO” (Hydrogen, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma) to establish a regional hub for development, production, and use of clean hydrogen as fuel and manufacturing feedstock.  

With I-10 being one of the most traveled trucking corridors in the country, nominating this highway as a hydrogen corridor was one of our state’s top priorities. With the successful addition of a hydrogen corridor on LA 1, connecting to I-10 and I-49 via US 90, Port Fourchon will be provided with a vital connection to Louisiana’s highly traveled trucking corridors. Adequate hydrogen fueling infrastructure along these state and US highways will enable Louisiana to help reduce its heavy-duty emissions related to the Port and allow for heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to move their goods east on US 90 and then north to I-10, or on US 90 west straight to I-49. I-49 is also a critical connection to Texarkana - a potential Hydrogen hub site that connects Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana as indicated by the HALO partnership announcement. 

Approved Hydrogen Corridors, Round 6

Round 6 Designations Nationwide

The 2022/Round 6 designations include 177 EV corridor-pending and six EV corridor-ready highways. The six corridor-ready designated highways are in Florida, New Jersey, and North Carolina. Other alternative fuel corridor nominations resulted in the designation of nine CNG, nine LNG, 11 propane, and 30 hydrogen corridor-pending corridors; along with the designation of three CNG and four propane corridor-ready highways.

The 2022/Round 6 Alternative Fuel Corridor Nominations included nominations that complete designations from all 50 States, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. The new corridors provide additional connections to highways designated in the previous five rounds of nominations to better complete coverage of alternative fuels nationwide. The 2022/Round 6 nominations included submittals from 29 States, four Metropolitan Planning Organizations, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, and included Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging, Hydrogen, Propane, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), and Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) fuel types.

About FHWA Alternative Fuel Corridor Designations

The Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act of 2015 required the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to designate national alternative fueling corridors (Title 23, United States Code, Section 151). Additionally, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), enacted as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, amended Section 151 to update the requirements related to the designation of national alternative fueling corridors.

The nomination/designation process of Alternative Fuel Corridors has grown in significance because it is now tied to funding eligibility provisions under BIL. The BIL establishes the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, and a Discretionary Grant Program for Charging and Fueling Infrastructure.

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