Boxer Aims to Put TIGER-Type Program in Next Federal Transport Bill

During an otherwise-abbreviated
hearing yesterday, Senate environment committee chairman Barbara
Boxer (D-CA)  joined the chorus of praise for the stimulus law's TIGER
program, declaring her intention to add a version of the
competitive infrastructure grants to the next long-term federal
transportation bill.

Bicyclists in Philadelphia, where $23 million in TIGER
money was awarded to build new trails. (Photo: BCGP)

"People
at home really think they're very good," Boxer said of the TIGER
grants, seeking advice from deputy U.S. DOT secretary John Porcari on
how to write the program into her forthcoming six-year transportation
legislation.

TIGER, short for Transportation Investments Generating Economic
Recovery, awarded $1.5 billion to infrastructure projects that best met a
series of criteria set by the Obama administration, including economic
growth potential and environmental benefits. Transportation reformers
have hailed the program as a first step in creating a federal system that
funds projects based on merit rather than state-by-state formulas.

Porcari echoed that praise, describing TIGER as "the way to the
future in intermodal transportation," but offered few details on how the
program might be enshrined in the long-term legislation being drafted
by Boxer's panel.