This morning, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the winners of the fifth round of the Department’s highly competitive Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) discretionary grant program.  From 585 applications requesting more than $9 billion, USDOT selected 52 transportation infrastructure projects in 37 states that will receive a total of $474 million. 

Notable grants awarded today include more than $9 million to the Michigan Department of Transportation for its Kalamazoo to Dearborn passenger rail project, $14 million for the San Diego Association of Governments for the Pacific Surfliner Coastal Railway Bridges project, nearly $14 million to the Florida Department of Transportation for the South Florida Freight & Passenger Rail Enhancement project, $20 million for the Kansas City Downtown Streetcar, and $18 million to the City of Atlanta to construct a portion of the Atlanta Beltline Corridor.  All projects selected today – which include, roads, bridges, railroads, ports, and transit systems – are summarized in these USDOT fact sheets.

USDOT awards TIGER grants on a competitive basis based on published selection criteria.  Unlike traditional federal programs, TIGER often funds large, multi-modal projects that are not suitable for other federal funding sources.  TIGER funds also leverage private and other non-federal funds, and USDOT reports that this current round of TIGER funding supports $1.8 billion in overall project investments.

Congress created the TIGER program through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to provide economic stimulus during the previous recession, and Congress has continued to fund the program (albeit in decreasing annual amounts) over the last four years through annual appropriations.