DOT TIGER grant program receives fifth round of funding

The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) TIGER Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2013 program received roughly $474 million for 52 transportation projects in 37 states, Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced yesterday.

The objective of the TIGER program is to ensure that economic funding is rapidly made available for transportation infrastructure projects and that project spending is monitored and transparent.

And as has been the case with previous rounds of funding, TIGER grant levels has typically exceeded the level of available funding, with applications for this round of grants topping $9 billion.

“These transformational TIGER projects are the best argument for investment in our transportation infrastructure,” said Foxx in a statement. “Together, they support President

Obama’s call to ensure a stronger transportation system for future generations by repairing existing infrastructure, connecting people to new jobs and opportunities, and contributing to our nation’s economic growth.” 
DOT officials said that the TIGER program offers one of the only federal funding possibilities for large, multi-modal projects that are not often suitable for other federal funding sources, adding that these federal funds leverage money from private sector partners, states, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations, and transit agencies. DOT also said that the 2013 TIGER funding supports $1.8 billion in overall project investments.

Funding for this round was made available through the White House’s FY 2013 Appropriations Act, with grants made available for capital investments in infrastructure that are awarded on a competitive basis based on published selection criteria. This round marks the fifth round of TIGER funding since its inception in 2009.

The round of TIGER funding comes at a time when transportation infrastructure funding remains, to an extent, in limbo, given the relatively brief duration of the current federal transportation bill, MAP-21, which is set to expire next year and the Highway Trust Fund, which is insolvent and whose revenues come from the gasoline tax, which has not been raised since 1993.

“The projects we’re supporting today represent the kind of work we should be doing more of across the country,” Foxx wrote in a blog post. “And that’s a message the House and Senate need to hear loud and clear as they get back from their summer recess. The President has laid out his plan. Now, we need Congress to act.”

Industry stakeholders have told LM that these grants are important on the job creation front and even more importation on the long-term economic growth front—particularly for the freight projects.

The freight projects in particular have very large cost-benefit potential and are largely focused on shippers in terms of supply chain efficiency and reducing inventories and transit time delays as well.