FOIA Advisor

FOIA News: Transportation's request backlog up 39% in FY 2025, per report

FOIA News (2026)Allan BlutsteinComment

On February 26, 2026, the Department of Transportation released its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2025. Some of the key figures are below:

  • 20,475 requests received, up from 18,345 requests in FY 2024.

  • 16,941 requests processed, up from 16,080 in FY 2024.

  • 11,250 backlogged requests, up from 8048 at the end of FY 2024.

  • Response times for all processed perfected requests were about 80 days on average for “simple” requests and 262 days on average for “complex” requests.

  • Processing and litigation costs totaled $19,639,088; fees collected for processing requests were $92,814.

  • 80 requests for fee waivers were granted and 45 were denied.

  • 51 requests for expedited processing were granted and 429 were denied.

Read more here.