The latest round of Department of Transportation
TIGER grants from the early Obama administration stimulus legislation totals
$500 million. This is the fourth round since the stimulus measure passed
Congress in 2009. The first three rounds awarded grants of $2.8 billion for 172
projects out of 3,348 applications for $95 billion in funding. Round four’s
applicants are requesting $10.2 billion for 703 different projects, an
oversubscription of 2040%. The oversubscription rate for TIGER funds overall
amounts to 3188%.
The staggering size of
the oversubscription reflects the dire state of transportation infrastructure
across our nation. No one seriously contends that the 3176 road, bridge, rail
and tunnel projects going unfunded so far are unneeded or wasteful; there’s
just not enough money appropriated to pay for them. Unless Congress and the 50
state legislatures start finding ways to pay for these deferred maintenance and
construction projects, it won’t be only the construction industry which
suffers. Pothole filled roads, weakened bridges and clogged railroad trackage
will slow down the movement of people and goods across our nation, and raise
the prices of everything for everyone.
