Business View Magazine - November 2016

Business View Magazine - November 2016 77 Business View Magazine 3 After evaluating 797 applications totaling requests for $9 billion for fiscal year 2014 Transportation Invest- ment Generating Economic Recovery grants, U.S. De- partment of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced 72 awards totaling $584 million will be distributed in the sixth round of the multimodal, discre- tionary grant program. Of those, seven awards totaling $74,241,904, or about 13 percent of total funding, are going to projects that USDOT classifies as “maritime.” Another $54,469,652 comprising five awards, which is equal to about 9 percent of the total funding, is going to what USDOT classifies as “freight rail” projects. Like freight rail, millions more are being awarded to various road and planning projects which aid in the movement of freight into and out of America’s seaports. On the U.S. DOT’s TIGER Grants web page, Foxx said, “As uncertainty about the future of long-term federal funding continues, this round of TIGER will be a shot in the arm for these innovative, job-creating and quality of life-enhancing projects.” He further noted that more projects could be getting done if Congress passed the GROW AMERICA Act, which the American Association of Port Authorities supports and which would double the funding available for TIGER. AAPA President and CEO Kurt Nagle lauded DOT’s rec- ognition of the critical role America’s ports play and the federal support provided in TIGER VI grants for seaports. He also noted that the 13 percent funding for maritime infrastructure projects in this round of TI- GER, along with the more than 9 percent funding for freight rail and road planning and infrastructure proj- ects, will help improve freight mobility, including con- nections to ports. “AAPA urges that 25 percent of TIGER grants be pro- vided for port-related and connector infrastructure, since ports are one of the four eligible areas (along with highways/bridges, transit and freight/passenger rail) for the TIGER program,” Nagle said. “Furthermore,