TIGER is in danger of becoming extinct

摘要

THE WHITE HOUSE'S BUDGET BLUEPRINT, which was released in March, and the House Appropriations Committee's proposed fiscal year 2018 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development funding bill share a common theme: both clearly state that it's time to say goodbye to "the tiger." Make that TIGER actually, the acronym for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recover discretionary grant program. The objective of the TIGER program is to ensure that economic funding is made available for transportation infrastructure projects, and that project spending is monitored and transparent. Since 2009, the TIGER grant program has provided a combined $5.1 billion to 421 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands and tribal communities. These federal funds leverage money from private sector partners, states, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations and transit agencies. DOT noted that the 2016 TIGER round alone is leveraged nearly $500 million in federal investment to support $1.74 billion in overall transportation investments.