Congressional offices announce some TIGER II awards in advance of official release

Exciting Assignment – Light Rail!, originally uploaded by Daniel Greene.

In advance of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s official announcement anticipated this week, news is already beginning to spread of towns and cities that have been awarded TIGER II construction and planning grants. Headlines about the awardees continue to crop up just about as fast as we can tweet them.

TIGER II grants are intended to support innovative transportation projects that create jobs, spur economic development, and improve the mobility, connectivity, and overall sustainability of communities’ transportation systems.

Some Congressional offices received notice of the awards at the end of last week. On Friday, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), celebrating the receipt of funds to design and build a complete streets network in Peoria, said, “Today’s funding is the boost that this area needs to start attracting significant economic development.”

Known TIGER II recipients thus far include:

• Peoria, Illinois – $10M for a complete streets network: http://ht.ly/2UaAX
• Maine-New Hampshire – $20M for an interstate bridge: http://ht.ly/2UaKy
• Ann Arbor, Michigan – $14M bridge repair project: http://ht.ly/2UaNa
• New Haven, Connecticut – $16M to convert limited-access highway to urban boulevards: http://ht.ly/2UaUY
• South Dakota – $16M for a state-owned rail line: http://ht.ly/2UepN
• Seattle, Washington – $34M for a new bridge: http://ht.ly/2Uexr
• Atlanta, Georgia – $47M for a $70M downtown streetcar project: http://ht.ly/2Ufk
• New York, New York – $10M to reconstruct the Fordham transit plaza and $1.5M to fund a vision plan for the Sheridan Expressway and Hunts Point: http://ht.ly/2UhYl
• Des Moines, Iowa – $10M for a new transit hub: http://ht.ly/2UiHr
• Miami, Florida – $22M for rail cargo system at Port of Miami http://ht.ly/2UiOq
• Newark, Delaware – $2.25M to redevelop a former Chrysler auto plant into a transit-oriented site http://ht.ly/2Vmvk
• Cleveland, Ohio – $10.5M to reconstruct a transit station http://ht.ly/2VncX
• Lexington, North Carolina – $700K to fund a multi-modal transportation station plan http://ht.ly/2Vn7q
• Oregon – $2M to fund up to 24 fast-charge stations for electric vehicles http://ht.ly/2Vnmh
• Maine – $10.5M to help save the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic railway http://ht.ly/2Vnrt
• Niagara Falls, New York – $16.5M to redevelop Customhouse into International Railway Station http://ht.ly/2VnMl
• Tennessee – $13M to develop the Port of Cates Landing on the Mississippi River http://ht.ly/2VoR0
• North Dakota – $14.1M to fund Minot Bypass http://ht.ly/2W3us
• Fort Worth, Texas – $34M for Tower 55 rail project http://ht.ly/2W3us

The number of applications for TIGER II funds outstripped available funds by a ratio of more than 30 to 1, with nearly 1000 applications totaling $19 billion in funding requests for an available federal pool of $600 million.

The TIGER II grant program follows a round of stimulus-funded TIGER I grants distributed in early 2010.

Cross-posted at the SGA Leadership Institute’s Initiative for Sustainable Communities and States.