Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Sign

Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE), previously called Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD), and Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER), is a supplementary discretionary grant program included in the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...

. The legislation provided $1.5 billion for a National Surface Transportation System through September 30, 2011, "to be awarded on a competitive basis for capital investments in surface transportation projects".

Requirements

The U.S. government designed TIGER grants in order to incentivize bettering environmental problems and reducing the United States' dependence on energy. On the economic front, the United States hopes infrastructure investment will encourage job creation, a pressing political priority; this would likely require the project to be

shovel-ready In politics, a shovel ready construction project (usually larger-scale infrastructure) is where planning and engineering is advanced enough that—with sufficient funding—construction can begin within a very short time. The term was popularized ...

Eligible applicants

Applicants eligible to receive funding for surface transportation projects include: *

State State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

and

local governments Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

, including U.S. territories and regional tribal councils *

Transit agencies A transit district or transit authority is a government agency or a public-benefit corporation created for the purpose of providing public transportation within a specific region. A transit district may operate bus, rail or other types of tra ...

* Port authorities *

Metropolitan planning organization A metropolitan planning organization (MPO) is a federally mandated and federally funded transportation policy-making organization in the United States that is made up of representatives from local government and governmental transportation authorit ...

s (MPOs) * Multi-state or multi-jurisdictional applicants

Qualifications

Qualified projects should result in "desirable, long-term outcomes" for the United States, a state within, or a regional or metropolitan area. According to Title 23 of the United States Code, eligible projects could include improvements to

interstate highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

s, reworking of interchanges,

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

replacements,

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

-related improvements, relocating roads, upgrading rural

collector road A collector road or distributor road is a low-to-moderate-capacity road which serves to move traffic from local streets to arterial roads. Unlike arterials, collector roads are designed to provide access to residential properties. Rarely, juri ...

s, certain

transit Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

projects, passenger and freight

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

ation projects, and

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as ...

infrastructure. Selected projects might improve the economy of the entire country, transportation safety, and quality of life for communities.

Funding history

TIGER I (2009)

U.S. Secretary of Transportation

Ray LaHood Raymond H. LaHood (born December 6, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 16th United States Secretary of Transportation from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Par ...

announced the TIGER discretionary grants program on February 4, 2009. Lana T. Hurdle, deputy assistant secretary for budget and programs, and Joel Szabat, deputy assistant secretary for transportation policy, co-chaired the team responsible for selecting projects and monitoring spending. Out of nearly 1,400 applications who collectively submitted $60 billion in applications, the Department of Transportation was only able to award $1.5 billion in TIGER grant funds to a just 3% of applicants—51 innovative projects.

TIGER II (2010)

The U.S. Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for 2010 made $600 million available for transportation infrastructure investment.

TIGER III (2011)

On June 30, 2011, Secretary LaHood announced that nearly $527 million would go towards the third round of TIGER fund disbursal. On December 15, 2011, that $511 million from the TIGER grant program would fund 46 transportation projects in 33 states and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

TIGER IV (2012)

The fourth round of TIGER funding—close to $500 million—went to 47 transportation projects in 34 states and the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. For fiscal year 2012,

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

districts won projects that concern

s, multimodal transport, and freight rail transport; receiving 24% of total funds,

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are des ...

s also performed strongly.

TIGER 2013

Although federal funding no longer referred to the funding allocations as TIGER grants, the US DOT continued to allocate these funds according to the same formula and continued to use the TIGER name. In 2013, 51 projects received TIGER funds, totaling approximately $458.3 million.

TIGER 2014

In 2014, the US Congress appropriated $600 million for TIGER funds. The US DOT received 797 applications requesting more than $9.5 billion. Seventy-two capital and planning projects in 46 states and the District of Columbia were selected for funding that totaled more than $584 million.

TIGER 2015

The seventh round of TIGER grants generated 625 applications requesting $9.8 billion worth of projects; of those projects, 60 were road projects, 18 percent were transit projects, and eight percent were rail projects, and port and bicycle and pedestrian projects made up six percent of the total.

References

{{reflist

External links

BUILD grants official website
Presidency of Barack Obama