Browse through articles and information about Secretary Pete’s accomplishments at the Department of Transportation from 2021-2025.
Joe Biden selected Buttigieg as his nominee for Secretary of Transportation in December of 2020. On February 2, 2021, he was confirmed by a vote of 86 yes to 13 no. He made history as the first openly gay cabinet Secretary in US History, and the youngest person ever to serve as the Secretary of Transportation at age 39.
Secretary Pete Buttigieg was instrumental in designing and passing the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law aka the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) under the Biden-Harris administration in 2021.
Pete made about 300 calls and took dozens of meetings with members of Congress to push this law over the finish line.
He did over 125 local news hits and a total of 300 press interviews to build support and public awareness for the bill.
Perhaps Pete Buttigieg’s most important accomplishments as Secretary of Transportation were safety, equity, protecting consumers, and holding corporations accountable.
Safety: 4 billion passengers got on planes during Secretary Pete’s tenure, and there were ZERO commercial airline fatalities. He also reduced roadways deaths and increased air traffic control staffing for the first time since 2012.
Equity: 4 billion dollars for the Reconnecting Communities Grant program and published the first ever Bill of Rights for passengers with disabilities and finalized a rule to prevent and penalize the mishandling of wheelchairs.
Protecting Consumers: Required airlines to give automatic CASH REFUNDS when your flight is significantly delayed or cancelled.
Holding Corporations Accountable: Fined Southwest, American and JetBlue tens of millions of dollars for chronic problems with delays, cancellations and discrimination.
By the time Secretary Pete Buttigieg left office in January 2025, over $400 billion had been announced for more than 62,000 transportation projects, and over 22,000 of these USDOT-funded projects had been completed from a federal standpoint:
- Repairs and improvements to 207,000+ miles of road
- 1,060+ port and waterway projects
- Improvements to 1,500+ airports
- Projects to build more than 4,600 buses
- More than 445 rail projects
- Projects to eliminate, improve, or study 1,400+ highway-rail crossings in local communities
- Projects to improve roadway safety in 1,600+ communities in all 50 states
- 695+ transportation projects across 221 Tribal Nations
- Selected nearly 5,000 discretionary grants
Screenshot of an interactive map showing public infrastructure projects as of November, 2024.
Secretary Pete Buttigieg improved USDOT processes by:
- Shortening timelines for complex environmental reviews
- Expanding the use of categorical exclusions to streamline the permitting process
- Launching a Modernizing NEPA Challenge.
- Tripling the pace of finalizing grant agreements compared to the previous administration.
- Using Phased Funding Agreements to finance large projects more quickly.
- Issuing a final rule to eliminate unnecessary barriers to financing transportation projects through USDOT credit programs.
- Launching the new Project Delivery Center of Excellence and the Project Delivery Acceleration Council to help deliver projects on time, on task, and on budget.
- Streamlined grant application processes.
- Expanding the use of Emerging Projects Agreements to provide better-coordinated technical assistance to deliver large portfolios of projects.
- Expanding the number of Regional Infrastructure Accelerators to improve project delivery.
Sources highlighting more about Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s accomplishments at the Department of Transportation:
USDOT, Supply Chain Companies Launch New Data Exchange to Strengthen Supply Chains
Secretary Buttigieg Celebrates Major Investments in Airports Across the Country
Department of Transportation Summary of Secretary Pete’s Accomplishments from 2021 to 2025
This page only scratches the surface of Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s accomplishments during his tenure at the Department of Transportation. Click here to read an in-depth, detailed article of all of Pete’s work at the Department of Transportation from 2021-2025.
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