U.S. DOT Set to Announce Over 50 TIGER Grants

WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation plans to announce the award of stimulus grants to help fund more than 50 projects across the country, senior Obama administration officials said Tuesday.

The recipients of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grants will be officially announced Wednesday. The awardees will include large cities, rural areas, and tribal communities, with 60% of funds going to economically distressed areas, the officials said.

Rail advocates in New York have already learned they will receive TIGER funding for the Moynihan Station project, which would provide a new Amtrak train hall in Manhattan. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Tuesday that the project would receive $83.3 million of TIGER funds.

The TIGER grant program was authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to distribute $1.5 billion of grants for transportation projects. However, the program was vastly oversubscribed, receiving nearly $60 billion of applications for projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and three U.S. territories.

As a result of the huge demand, President Obama wants more funding made available for TIGER-style discretionary transportation grants, the officials said.

The administration is "pleased with the progress the Senate has made" on a new jobs bill, one official said. Senate Democrats unveiled a jobs agenda earlier this month that would expand TIGER grants to "be used to upgrade several modes of transportation."

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Transportation industry
MORE FROM BOND BUYER