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Unleashed TIGER Forges a New Path
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Just three weeks after history-making intercity passenger train grants were announced, the Obama Administration unveiled $1.5 billion in Recovery Act grants under a revolutionary framework in which rail and transit figure prominently. The program, dubbed Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER), marks the first time that the US Department of Transportation has awarded money across the institutional barriers that have historically held back funding for railroads and transit—and infrastructure that connects these with the rest of the transportation network.
As with the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail “pot,” states’ applications greatly exceeded the available funds—$56 requested for every $1 awarded. Determining what percentage of TIGER funds went to each mode of travel is (happily) difficult since many of the projects benefit multiple modes. Grants benefitting passenger rail (including rail transit) total $574.1 million (about 38% of the total), while those aiding freight rail add up to $408.8 billion (about 27%). Transit improvement ventures (subway, light rail, streetcar and bus) got $699 million (about 47%), with highways getting almost 30%, and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure about 10%.
TIGER’s innovative, merit-based funding mechanism should become the mold in which most future federal transportation financing is cut. Including more funding for TIGER or a similar program in the Jobs Bill (currently before the Senate) would be an ideal way for Congress to signal its commitment to meaningful reform that will give Americans better mobility choices. NARP and our partners in the OneRail Coalition [link to come] will continue to sound the call for strong, balanced transportation investments that put rail in its rightful place as a key component in how America moves.
Read on for an overview of how the awards are distributed, or go here for complete descriptions of each funded project.
—Malcolm Kenton
Projects that benefit intercity passenger trains appear in bold. This is not a complete list.
Commuter Rail: $75 million
- Fitchburg Commuter Rail Extension & Wachusett Station in Massachusetts - $55.5 million
- Fast Track New Bedford in Massachusetts - $20 million
Light Rail Transit: $25 million
- M1/Woodward Avenue Light Rail Project in Detroit, MI - $25m
Streetcars: $154 million
- Tucson Modern Streetcar in Arizona - $63 million
- New Orleans Streetcar - Union Passenger Terminal/Loyola Loop in Louisiana - $45 million
- Portland’s Innovation Quadrant - SW Moody St. & Streetcar Reconstruction in Oregon - $23.2 million
- Downtown Dallas Streetcar in Texas - $23 million
Transit stations/intermodal hubs: $140 million
- Moynihan Station, Phase 1 in New York City - $83 million
- Saint Paul Union Depot Multi-Modal Transit and Transportation Hub in Minnesota - $35 million
- Normal Multimodal Transportation Center in Illinois - $22 million
Freight Rail (Class 1): $356 million
- Norfolk Southern Crescent Corridor Intermodal Freight Rail Project in Alabama and Tennessee - $105 million
- Key CREATE Program Projects in Chicagoland - $100 million
- CSX National Gateway Freight Rail Corridor in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania & West Virginia - $98 million
- Alameda Corridor East: Colton Crossing (BNSF and UP) in California - $33.8 million
- KCS Port of Gulfport Rail Improvements in Mississippi - $20 million
Freight Rail (short line): $17 million
- R.J. Corman Appalachian Regional Short Line Rail Project in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia - $17.5 million
Freight Rail (Industrial/Military): $22 million
- Quonset Wind Energy & Surface Transportation Project in Rhode Island -$22.3 million