LaHood announces $600 million in Tiger II grants

$34m for FW, $0 for Houston

Jon Boyd, Oct 21, 10.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced all of the recipients of $600 million in grants from the competitive Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) II program, according to Reuters. No TIGER II funds will be distributed to the Houston area. A grant of $34 million, the second largest on the list, will fund improvements to a busy rail junction in Fort Worth, says Michael Lindenberger of the Dallas Morning News.

“As a competitive program, TIGER II is able to fund the best projects from around the country. Using merit-based evaluation criteria allows the Department of Transportation to address some of the nation’s most critical challenges like sustainability and economic competitiveness,” says the US DOT press release.

Tower 55 in Fort Worth - one of the busiest rail junctions in the nation, with over 100 trains passing daily - will get a boost from a $34 million grant, the second largest from the second round of TIGER funding. Amtrak, the Trinity Valley Express commuter line, and two Class I railroads (Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific) all operate trains through Tower 55, according to the North Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG). Improvements to Tower 55 will reduce delays, according to NCTCOG.

Capital and planning projects received grants for various kinds of transportation. The largest grant totals $47.6 million for an streetcar project in downtown Atlanta, says the US DOT press release:

Forty-two capital construction projects and 33 planning projects in 40 states will share nearly $600 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s popular TIGER II program for major infrastructure projects ranging from highways and bridges to transit, rail and ports, Secretary Ray LaHood announced today.

Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) II received nearly 1,000 construction grant applications for more than $19 billion from all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

The tremendous demand for TIGER II project dollars follows a similar demand for TIGER I project dollars. On February 17, 2009, the Department 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.

“These are innovative, 21st century projects that will change the U.S. transportation landscape by strengthening the economy and creating jobs, reducing gridlock and providing safe, affordable and environmentally sustainable transportation choices,” said Secretary LaHood. “Many of these projects could not have been funded without this program.”

Roughly 29 percent of TIGER II money goes for road projects, 26 percent for transit, 20 percent for rail projects, 16 percent for ports, four percent for bicycle and pedestrian projects and five percent for planning projects.
An example of projects funded is $47.6 million to the City of Atlanta to construct a new streetcar line connecting many of the most important downtown residential, cultural, educational and historic centers, demonstrating the Department’s commitment to improving quality of life in major metropolitan areas.

TIGER II also provided $20 million to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation to replace the deteriorating Memorial Bridge that connects Portsmouth, NH, with Kittery, ME. The bridge is at the end of its service life and has a bridge sufficiency rating of six out of 100. Safety concerns recently required a maximum three-ton weight restriction on the bridge, causing all truck traffic to be detoured. The project demonstrates the Department’s commitment to bringing the nation’s aging road and highway infrastructure to a state of good repair.

In addition, TIGER II funds are being used to support a $546 million TIFIA (Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act) loan for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build the Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line, a key piece of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s 30/10 initiative to construct 12 major transit projects in 10 years rather than 30, exemplifying the Department’s commitment to bold, regional transportation projects that create jobs in the short term while reinvesting in long term economic competitiveness and livability.

Under TIGER II, more than $140 million is reserved for projects in rural areas.

Update, October 25, 10
In addition to grants for active transportation, there are plenty of projects on the TIGER II list to enhance mobility for those driving cars, according to Transportation for America:

The people in Staples, Minnesota stuck in traffic downtown for hours each day while an average of 52 long trains pass through town could probably vouch for the benefits and reduced congestion that will come from a brand new bridge and crossing. Or the Californians who have to wait on the 100+ trains carrying 40% of all volume from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles that pass daily through a single mainline crossing and the 24 at-grade intersections in San Bernardino County, probably representing the single biggest choke point for freight on the West Coast. The people who won’t have to wait on those trains any longer will probably be joined by the shipping companies in touting the congestion-reducing benefits of that project.

Or there’s the people who drive across two bridges in Ann Arbor, Michigan that are so bad that two of the four lanes have been closed because they’re just no longer safe. They can probably vouch for the benefits of new, safe bridges to replace those; bridges that will also be safe for pedestrians and bicyclists in addition to carrying twice the traffic volume with the full complement of lanes.

Do you think New Hampshire would agree that these grants take us backwards? The Granite State will have their number one bridge priority addressed through TIGER, restoring a dangerous, corroded, old bridge linking New Hampshire to Maine with an upgraded bridge that can handle more traffic while also accommodating bikers and pedestrians.

Along these lines, we’re going to start a series next week profiling some of these TIGER projects. Projects like these point to the future of how the federal government can encourage innovation and livability while also making sure our freight is getting delivered on time, commuters in cars, trains or buses aren’t stuck in traffic without any other options, and those without a car aren’t relegated to the margins of our society.

Update, October 26, 10
Three grants on the TIGER II list will fund freeway removal, as reported by Planetizen and The Grist. One grant will fund the removal of an urban highway in New Haven, and the other two are planning grants to study removal of the Sheridan Expressway in The Bronx, and the Claiborne Expressway in New Orleans.

US DOT press release
US DOT TIGER II grant list (pdf)
US DOT TIGER II planning grant list (pdf)
President Obama press release: transportation infrastructure investment plan
Fort Worth, Texas (Tower 55)
North Central Texas Council of Governments: Tower 55 projects

(Photo credit: uploaded by the North Central Texas Council of Governments)