The Republican-controlled Senate is poised to eliminate the TIGER program, one of the few sources of federal funds that cities can access directly to improve streets and transit.
The worst aspect is the elimination of the TIGER grant program, which in its 7-year history has provided funding for multi-modal projects that found little support from other federal programs. By working directly with cities and regional agencies, TIGER bypassed state DOTs more interested in big highway projects than enhancing transit, biking, and walking options.
The Commerce Committee cynically says its plan “formally authorizes the TIGER transportation grants program,” merely “refocusing” it on freight infrastructure. TIGER has always been a boon to freight projects that had trouble accessing federal dollars, but it has also funded projects to make streets safer, heal scars left by urban highways, and improve transit service. The committee can’t take eligibility away from those types of projects and still call the program "TIGER."
And in fact, it's not: While the press release says the committee is authorizing TIGER, TIGER appears nowhere in the bill text [PDF]. What takes its place is a freight investment grant program, authorized with TIGER’s full $500 million.
“We need more transportation dollars, not fewer, awarded competitively on the merits to the best projects,” Davis adds.
The day after the Commerce Committee released its proposal, Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced a bill to authorize TIGER in its current form. Murray was an architect of the TIGER grant program and has long been one of its staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill.
Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry has been thinking about transportation, and how to improve conditions for bicyclists, ever since commuting to school by bike long before bike lanes were a thing. She was Managing Editor at the East Bay Express, editor of Access Magazine for the University of California Transportation Center, and earned her Masters in City Planning from UC Berkeley.
Highway construction costs rise to meet all the money coming from the federal infrastructure bill; Modesto celebrates new bus hub, future rail depot; E-bikes save money, reduce emissions, make people happy; More
Bike Month begins; Transit dangers; Yolo causeway project "not air quality concern" and Sacramento gets an F in air quality; Universal basic income could get a lot of people off the streets; More