The U.S. DOT has announced that 52 transportation projects in 37 states will receive a total of approximately $474 million from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2013 discretionary grant program. Among these, 25 projects funded at $123.4 million will be designated for projects in rural areas of the country.
An $11.9 million grant for the I-64 Delta Frame Bridge Project was among the rural projects to receive TIGER funding.
TIGER funds will be used to rehabilitate the Lexington Delta Frame Bridges along I-64 in Rockbridge County, including steel and deck repairs. The existing bridges carry an estimated 9,115 vehicles per day and serve both eastbound and westbound traffic across Rockbridge County.
Built in 1976, the bridges are deteriorating. If they are not repaired, deterioration will continue and repair costs will escalate, eventually forcing the bridges to close to trucks on a major freight corridor. I-64 links freight terminal facilities in the Hampton Roads and Richmond areas to the rest of Virginia and the nation, and an updated, dependable structure will move people and goods more safely and efficiently.
The highly competitive TIGER program offers one of the few federal funding possibilities for large, multimodal projects, which often are not suitable for other federal funding sources. These federal funds leverage money from private-sector partners, states, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations and transit agencies. The 2013 TIGER round alone supports $1.8 billion in overall project investments.
TIGER has enjoyed overwhelming demand since its creation, a trend continued by TIGER 2013. Applications for this most recent round of grants totaled more than $9 billion, far exceeding the approximately $474 million set aside for the program. In all, the DOT received 585 applications from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.
Like the first four rounds, TIGER 2013 grants are for capital investments in infrastructure and are awarded on a competitive basis based on the published selection criteria.
Under all five rounds combined, the TIGER program has provided more than $3.6 billion to 270 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Click here for additional information on individual TIGER grants www.dot.gov/tiger.
