Transportation projects throughout the United States will get a $500 million boost in 2016 through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program. This eighth consecutive year of TIGER funding was announced this week by U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
Photo by David Wilson licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Both rural and urban projects will be eligible to compete for these competitive, discretionary grants. Applications for funding are due April 29.
Each of the projects funded must show some significant impact on the nation, a metropolitan area or a region. This year’s awardees must be projects that generate economic development and improve access to reliable, safe and affordable transportation for their respective communities.
Awarded annually since 2009, the TIGER program has funded more than 380 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The critical need for outside help for funding of these much-needed projects is evidenced by the fact that over the first seven years of awards, more than 6,700 applications for funding were received, seeking a total of more than $134 billion for the projects.
Several multi-million-dollar grants were made toward nearly 40 projects in 2015 totaling $500 million, with the grant funds to be applied to overcall cost of each project. Last year, the West Line Fox River Bridge improvement project in Illinois was awarded $14 million in TIGER funding toward a $34 million project to replace the 134-year-old rail bridge over the Fox River. The project included a completely new structure, expanded to accommodate two tracks and controlled by a modern, positive train control-compliant signal system.
The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority was allocated just over $10 million in 2015 toward an $18.6 million project to replace the existing ferry terminal with a new, modern facility at the end of Canal Street. It is in an area that is vital to the city’s tourism industry that is already being redeveloped.
In 2010, a TIGER planning grant was awarded to the city of New York for a project to construct a gap of 0.75 miles of bike and pedestrian trails and two bicycle/pedestrian bridges in the 23-mile Bronx River Greenway. An allocation of $10 million was awarded from 2015 TIGER funds for a project valued at $22.6 million.
In North Carolina, the city of Charlotte was awarded $25 million from last year’s TIGER grants to help defray the costs of a $51.6 million project to complete the Charlotte Gateway Station and provide for track and safety improvements. The project included removing track infrastructure, building bridges and retaining structures and installing station tracks and signals.
In addition to providing funding allocations, TIGER grants also has been very successful in leveraging funds from the private sector through public-private partnerships, from state and local governments, metropolitan planning organizations, ports and transit agencies. Last year’s grants leveraged $500 million in federal investment alone to support $1.4 billion in transportation project investment.
These additional funds will help cash-strapped government entities move forward on projects that are crucial in communities throughout the country. Contracting opportunities will be available for a variety of construction-related private-sector firms.