U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on Thursday announced that 52 transportation projects in 37 states will receive a total of about $474 million from the Transportation Department’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program.
The competitive and extremely popular TIGER program is now in its fifth incarnation since 2009. The DOT awards the grants on the basis of applications from state and local governments. The grants provide a means of leveraging money for expensive projects likely to have a significant national, state, or metropolitan area impact. They are often paired with municipal bond financing and public-private partnership arrangements.
The latest round of applications featured 585 requests from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and totaled $9 billion.
The grants will support a total investment of about $1.8 billion of infrastructure investment nationwide, Foxx said. The Obama administration has made infrastructure investment a hallmark of its domestic agenda, despite opposition from congressional Republicans who have attempted to de-fund the TIGER program several times.
“These transformational TIGER projects are the best argument for investment in our transportation infrastructure,” said Foxx. “Together, they support President Obama’s call to ensure a stronger transportation system for future generations by repairing existing infrastructure, connecting people to new jobs and opportunities, and contributing to our nation’s economic growth.”
The largest grant in this round is $20 million to the Kansas City, Mo. streetcar project, a more than $100 million effort which could utilize some $70 million in bonds supported by a special sales tax. That tax has come under fire from local business owners who have challenged the legality of the funding scheme, but DOT officials said the project will help to continue a resurgence of downtown Kansas City as a cultural and economic center.
DOT officials also highlighted several other projects that will benefit from the newest grant disbursements, including a $10 million investment in the Houston, Tex., Bayport Wharf extension project. That will allow the terminal to double its cargo capacity by 2033, supporting international trade with more than 1,000 ports in 203 countries, they said. The project will increase the port’s ability to take advantage of the ships expected after the Panama Canal expansion in 2015, when larger ships carrying more cargo will begin calling at ports.
DOT officials cited another $10 million grant to reconstruct the Tacoma, Wash., rail trestle as a good example of a project that will repair existing infrastructure, in line with Obama’s “fix it first” infrastructure investment strategy. Replacing the 100 year-old, single-track wooden trestle and bridge with a modern twin-track structure will double capacity and improve reliability and travel time for passenger rail service, they said. That project also adds freight capacity, contributing to economic growth and supporting Pierce County, the City of Tacoma and the Port of Tacoma.
Under all five rounds combined, the TIGER program has provided more than $3.6 billion to 270 projects in all 50 states, the D.C., and Puerto Rico. Demand for the program has outweighed available funds, and during all five rounds, the DOT received more than 5,200 applications requesting more than $114.2 billion for transportation projects across the country.
