U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he will accelerate stimulus spending and announce $1.5 billion in TIGER Discretionary Grants as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) one month early. The TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Discretionary Grant program will award ARRA funds on a competitive basis to projects that have a significant impact on the nation, a region or metropolitan area and can create jobs and benefit economically distressed areas.
“Our top priority with the Recovery Act is to get money out the door quickly in order to put people to work and get the economy back on track,” said LaHood.
As part of the ongoing effort to accelerate spending, Secretary LaHood created a review team to expedite the application process for the $1.5 billion TIGER Discretionary Grant program. That will enable the U.S. DOT to announce the grants in January 2010—one full month ahead of the statutory deadline.
“By awarding these recovery dollars ahead of schedule, we’ll be able to jump start major-impact projects and boost local economies across America even more quickly,” LaHood said.
The Recovery Act was designed to ramp up over time, with peak activity taking place in the second half of 2009 and first half of 2010. After laying the groundwork in the first 100 days of the Recovery Act, President Obama and Vice President Biden last month announced the Roadmap to Recovery, 10 major projects taking place nationwide this summer that are a first step in achieving that accelerated pace. Since then, the administration has continued to pursue additional ways to speed implementation.
