Houston region receives no TIGER money

Dallas gets $43 million

Steve Hawley, Feb 17, 10.

UPDATED 02/18/10, 10:32 am

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced 51 recipients of the TIGER stimulus grants on Monday, according to the Department of Transportation (DOT) website, but none are in the Houston region.

The grants - which stand for “Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery” - total $1.5 billion, meaning that the average recipient will get almost $30 million. Most of the awards went to transit and rail projects around the country. Over half of the money went to entities other than state departments of transportation, including transit agencies, port authorities, and Metropolitan Planning Organizations, continuing the administration’s quest to provide urban areas with more control over their funding.

In his FastLane blog, LaHood wrote, “Folks, this is not just another grant program; this is a new way of recognizing merit, a way that breaks through old formulas and rewards American innovation that serves American communities.”

Texas received two grants - both of them in the Dallas-Fort Worth area - totaling $43 million. Dallas will receive $23 million to build a downtown streetcar line, paying for almost 40 percent of the anticipated $58 million project. Irving and Grand Prairie will get $20 million to help complete the State Highway 161 tollway.

According to the DOT, the streetcar project “will improve transportation within downtown Dallas by creating a seamless transit connection and providing a multi-modal link between jobs and residents. It specifically targets commuters in mixed use districts adjacent to downtown and will help create a transit network linking urban areas by providing multiple transportation alternatives.”

Other notable projects include $63 million for a Tucson streetcar line, $58.8 million for the bus network around Washington, DC, $45 million for the New Orleans streetcar system, $23 million for a pedestrian and bicycle network in Philadelphia, and $20.5 million for a pedestrian and bicycle network in Indianapolis.

No projects in the Houston region received any TIGER funding. The Gulf Coast Freight Rail District, the Liberty County Rural Rail District, Fort Bend County, Harris County, and the ports of Freeport, Galveston, and Houston were among the applicants. It does not appear that the City of Houston applied for any TIGER funds. The five projects submitted by Fort Bend and Harris counties were all road projects, and at the state level, four of the five projects submitted by the Texas Department of Transportation were also road projects. None of the TxDOT projects were located in the Houston region.

Nationwide, DOT received 1,380 applications totaling $56.5 billion. The agency evaluated the applications on: long-term improvements to repair, economic competitiveness, livability, sustainability, and safety; short-term job creation; innovation; and multi-agency partnerships.

Transportation for America, Smart Growth America, and the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) all released statements supporting the TIGER recipients.

Transportation for America said:

The Obama Department of Transportation today broke historic ground in unveiling projects chosen in a first-ever program to award federal dollars on a competitive basis to innovative projects that address economic, environmental and travel issues at once.

Smart Growth America applauded the projects but called for federal transportation reform at the same time:

“These projects show the kinds of transportation investments that will make our lives better: projects that get freight out of people’s way, that give people a place to walk and bike, that replace unsafe bridges, and that in the end, help connect our communities in ways that make them stronger,” said William Schroeer, State Policy Director for Smart Growth America.
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“It’s worth noting however, that many of these activities technically could be funded through current programs. The fact that they aren’t and it takes a special program to get this kind of innovation, just highlights the need for broader transportation reform at both federal and state levels.”

NRDC echoed those comments. Colin Peppard, deputy director of federal transportation policy, noted:

“This is an impressive list of projects that will change how residents in these areas use transportation. ... The TIGER program shows that there are hundreds of innovative transportation projects across the country that will put Americans to work, cut oil use and reduce global warming pollution at the same time.

“Keep in mind, though, that these projects could never be funded through our current federal transportation program, which does not encourage innovation and often penalizes efficiency. The list of successful TIGER projects clearly shows the need to reform outmoded transportation laws. Such high-quality transportation projects should be the rule, rather than the exception.

Full list of recipients, including project descriptions (pdf, 4.7 mb)