The U.S. Department of Transportation released the results of its Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants and seemed surprised that there was huge demand for free federal money. The full list included 51 projects that do their best to minimize the benefits to customized travel. Several good projects are included, mostly those that support freight, but a lot of waste will also be clearly evident as bike paths and transit get higher priority.
From the press release:
The TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Discretionary Grant Program was included in the Recovery Act to spur a national competition for innovative, multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional transportation projects that promise significant economic and environmental benefits to an entire metropolitan area, a region or the nation. Projects funded with the $1.5 billion allocated in the Recovery Act include improvements to roads, bridges, rail, ports, transit and intermodal facilities.
In an overwhelming show of demand for the program, the U.S. Department of Transportation was flooded with more than 1,400 applications from all 50 states, territories and the District of Columbia requesting funding for almost $60 billion worth of projects — 40 times the amount available through the program.