The U.S. Department of Transportation on Tuesday, April 24, announced the selection of five projects to apply for a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan:
• Port of Long Beach to replace Gerald Desmond Bridge;
• State Route 91 project in California;
• Colorado’s U.S. 36 managed lanes and bus rapid transit project;
• Interstate 95 HOT/HOV lanes project in Northern Virginia; and
• I-35W project in Texas.
The TIFIA program provides federal credit assistance to nationally or regionally significant surface transportation projects, including highway, transit and rail. The program is designed to fill market gaps and leverage private co-investment by providing projects with supplemental debt.
DOT says national demand for TIFIA infrastructure credit assistance has been overwhelming; in response to the fiscal year 2012 Notice of Funding Availability, the department received 26 letters of interest exceeding $13 billion in total requests. Since its inception, TIFIA has provided almost $9.1 billion in credit assistance to 26 projects.
