Substantial Demand Underscores Need for TIGER Grants
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced that applications to the U.S. Department of Transportation for its seventh round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants totaled $9.8 billion, almost 20 times the $500 million set aside for the program, demonstrating the continued need for transportation investment nationwide. The demand for infrastructure investments from across the nation, and for all types of transportation projects, has been overwhelming. Among the 625 applications received this year, 60 percent are road projects, 18 percent are transit projects, and 8 percent are rail projects; with port and bicycle-pedestrian applications each representing 6 percent of the total.
Officials Call for Freight Infrastructure Investment
Rep. Congressman Alan Lowenthal (CA-47) will be joined by Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI-14) and major goods movement leaders from both the public and private sector at a press conference on April 21, 2015, to call for Congressional passage of a surface transportation reauthorization bill that specifically includes dedicated funding for rebuilding and upgrading our nation’s crumbling freight infrastructure. This “Call to Action” event is meant to both elevate the awareness of freight infrastructure investment needs and present Congress with options for addressing those needs. Congressman Lowenthal will discuss his freight infrastructure funding legislation, H.R.
Improving U.S. Freight Transportation System
The Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation published its final report on United States freight transportation, offering an assessment of its current condition with recommendations for strengthening nationwide infrastructure and U.S. economy. The panel, led by its Chairman, U.S. Rep John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN) and Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), was founded by Full Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and Ranking Member Nick J. Rahall, II (D-W.Va.) in April 2013 to examine U.S. freight transportation, the role it plays on the nation’s economy and ways in which it may be improved, including financially, structurally and technologically. Direct the Secretary of Transportation, in coordination with the Secretary of the Army and the Commandant of the U.S.
Strategic Seaports
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Maritime Administration (MARAD), has designated particular ports around the United States as “strategic seaports.” Strategic seaports are designated because of their ability to support major force and material deployments in times of war and national emergency, based on their proximity to deploying military units and their transportation links close to those units, and varying other capabilities the DOD has deemed important…
AAPA: MAP-21 Passage is Forward Progress
America’s Ports, Freight System Recognized in MAP-21 Surface Transportation Bill Reauthorization. With congressional passage today of MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century), the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) says elements in the two-year, $105 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill elevate the priority of freight movement in a way that constitutes major progress in recognizing the value of America’s seaports and freight network to the economy, jobs creation and business development.
