The Department of Transportation has received $10.2 billion in applications for the $500 million available through its latest round of TIGER funding, highlighting the pressing need for infrastructure investment, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Thursday.
The fourth round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants, announced in January, makes $500 million available to help fund state and local surface transportation projects. In three previous rounds, the program has distributed $2.6 billion to 172 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, according to the DOT. That money has contributed to light and heavy rail, bike and pedestrian paths, roads, bridges and other projects.
The department received 703 applications for TIGER IV, which makes grants of up to $100 million available for high-speed and inter-city passenger rail projects, and $120 million for projects benefiting rural areas.
The announcement of the continued popularity of the TIGER program underscores the urgent need for infrastructure investment, with Congress stalled on efforts to pass a multi-year highway funding law and gas prices rising nationwide.
“President Obama has challenged us to invest in an America that is built to last, and it’s clear that communities across America can’t afford to wait any longer to get started,” LaHood said.
The TIGER program was created by the administration’s American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, but is sometimes cited by Republicans, along with the the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or TIFIA program, as a reason the nation does not need a national infrastructure bank. That proposal, backed by prominent Democrats such as Sen. John Kerry and included in Obama’s most recent budget plan, would be another means for the government to distribute money for state infrastructure projects.
The DOT is currently reviewing the applications, a spokesman said, though a final date for the award announcements has not been set. LaHood has said that announcements will likely be made sometime in May.
