State governments have inundated the U.S. Department of Transportation with applications for TIGER grants, filing 625 applications worth $9.8 billion while DOT has only $500 million to disperse this year.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx provided an update on the status of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program in a July 30 statement. He said 60% of the applications are for road projects and that they come from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
The ratio of the applications (total value) to available funding is 19.6 to 1 this year.
“The consistent number of high-quality projects we’re unable to fund through TIGER every year demonstrates the need for Congress to act to give more communities access to this vital lifeline,” Foxx said. “That is why we proposed doubling TIGER in the Grow America Act.”
Among the applications, 18% are transit projects, 8% are for rail work, and port and bicycle-pedestrian requests contribute another 6% each. There were 565 applications last year. The winners received funding for $584.1 million.
The first year for TIGER grants was 2009.
President Obama and Foxx have requested $7.5 billion for six years’ worth of TIGER grants, or $1.25 billion a year on average.
