US DOT awarding $600M to more than 70 transportation infrastructure projects under TIGER II
22 October 2010
Forty-two capital construction projects and 33 planning projects in 40 states will share nearly $600 million from the US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) TIGER II program for major infrastructure projects ranging from highways and bridges to transit, rail and ports.
Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) II received nearly 1,000 construction grant applications for more than $19 billion from all 50 states, US territories and the District of Columbia.
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| Allocation of TIGER II funding by project type. Data: DOT. Click to enlarge. |
The demand for TIGER II project dollars follows a similar demand for TIGER I project dollars. On 17 February 2009, DOT announced 51 grant awards from nearly 1,500 applications for TIGER I grants nationwide. The TIGER I requests were for almost $60 billion worth of projects, 40 times the $1.5 billion available under that program. TIGER I dollars were made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Roughly 29% of TIGER II money goes for road projects, 26% for transit, 20% for rail projects, 16% for ports, 4% for bicycle and pedestrian projects and 5% for planning projects.
Under TIGER II, more than $140 million is reserved for projects in rural areas.
This marked the first time that the US Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have joined together in awarding grants for localized planning activities that ultimately lead to projects that integrate transportation, housing and urban development. Almost 700 applicants sought up to $35 million in TIGER II planning grants and up to $40 million in HUD Sustainable Community Challenge Grants. HUD’s funds can be used for localized planning efforts, such as development around a transit stop and zone or building code updates and improvements. The two Departments, along with assistance from the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Agriculture, participated in the evaluation of the planning grant applications.
TIGER II grants were awarded to projects that have a significant impact on the nation, a region or metropolitan area. The projects chosen demonstrate their ability to contribute to the long-term economic competitiveness of the nation, improve the condition of existing transportation facilities and systems, increase energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improve the safety of US transportation facilities and/or enhance the quality of living and working environments of communities through increased transportation choices and connections. The Department also gave priority to projects that are expected to create and preserve jobs quickly and stimulate rapid increases in economic activity.
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This may be a bit late but it is part of the useful make work projects.
Posted by: HarveyD | 23 October 2010 at 10:07 AM
I use the term "make work" for digging a hole and filling it back in. These are actually productive infrastructure programs that are needed and will improve the lives of everyone.
Posted by: SJC | 23 October 2010 at 03:53 PM
These are mostly rail-related projects led by $47M for Atlanta Street Cars. Someone in Atlanta must know someone.
Posted by: Reel$$ | 23 October 2010 at 06:08 PM
Still, $ 0.6 Billion Dollars spread out among 70 project, yields less than $10M per project. They must be small tiny projects. I would have felt more encouraged if the total dollar number was higher by a factor of 10 or 100.
Posted by: TM | 24 October 2010 at 10:28 AM