Photo by MTA Photos is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Much has been written about the critical state of the country’s roads and bridges. It’s heartening to finally hear some positive news.
In March, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced two major Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans for more than $403 million. The money will be used to leverage other funding for construction of the Wekiva Parkway in Orlando and for the Portsmouth Bypass, a public-private-partnership project in Scioto County, Ohio. Currently, there is only $500 million available for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants for FY2015, so these two projects will take a large portion of available funds. Twenty percent of the funding is allocated for rural projects.
TIFIA loans are typically provided to state and local governmental agencies to help them attract additional financing, usually from private entities. TIFIA loans have been extremely successful and since the program began in 1998, it has leveraged $22 billion in federal funds into more than $78 billion in infrastructure investment.
Also in March, the Obama administration introduced a $478-billion surface transportation reauthorization bill called the GROW AMERICA Act. The bill allows for another allocation of more than $7.5 billion to the TIGER grant program over the next six years. However, Republican leaders, who are not enamored with Obama’s bill, say they intend to reveal their own plan that will ensure long-term funding for highway programs. They hope to do this before funding authority expires May 31.
In 2014, GOP leaders did not act on the previous GROW AMERICA Act that would have authorized $302.3 billion over four years. Instead, they approved a 10-month funding extension for highway programs.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said that the 2015 TIGER grants will focus on projects that significantly impact economic development and improve access to affordable and reliable transportation. Since it began, the TIGER grant program has provided a combined total of more than $4 billion to 343 transportation projects in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
And, while the funding totals sound significant, the USDOT receives thousands of funding requests. It would take more than $100 billion to fund all the critical projects. Public officials at the regional levels of government are hoping to see a long-term funding commitment from Congress. The clock is ticking and time is passing quickly. Lots of optimism is starting to diminish, but if either political party is able to restore and hopefully increase funding for transportation infrastructure in the United States, it will be a reason to celebrate. Our experts at SPI will continue to track the latest transportation updates and resulting P3 opportunities.