WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation Wednesday formally announced the 75 state and local projects that will receive a total of $585 million for construction and planning, with Atlanta, Fort Worth, Tex., and Seattle receiving the three largest grants.
Atlanta’s planned streetcar system will receive a $47.7 million grant, while Fort Worth’s Tower 55 railroad intersection and Seattle’s South Park Bridge projects each will receive $34 million.
Grants for more than $2 million will fund planning for an underpass in Barrington, Ill., train station improvement in Newark, Del., and the Oakland Army Base Infrastructure Master Plan in California.
Local officials and members of Congress have rushed to announce their awards in recent days from the fund dubbed TIGER II after a similar Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Act program that was created by the stimulus law.
The final list was unveiled officially Wednesday by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and the DOT.
The total award availability is $600 million. LaHood said $15 million would be spent on administrative costs, leaving only $585 million for grants.
While metro areas took the largest dollar amounts, rural areas received 17 of the 42 capital grants and 11 of the 33 planning grants.
More than one-third of the planning grants were paired with grants from the Housing and Urban Development, in keeping with the Obama administration’s priority for “livable communities” that include coordinated transportation and housing.
By contrast, only four of the rural planning grants were paired with HUD awards.
One of the capital grants will be used to leverage a transit loan from the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority received a $20 million award — enough to finance a TIFIA loan for one-third of the costs of a $1.715 billion Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor Project.
The project is a new 8.5-mile light-rail line with six to eight new stations.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has repeatedly asked Congress and the White House to help the city finance a broader transit initiative that includes the light-rail line.
The Los Angeles project is “a high-priority piece of the city’s 30/10 initiative, an effort to accelerate 12 major transit projects in just 10 years, rather than 30 years, using innovative financing backed by the voter-approved Measure R sales tax,” the DOT announcement said.
