On February 17th, the Department of Transportation announced the recipients of the highly competitive TIGER grant program. While DOT received over 1,400 applications, in the end only 51 projects or 3% of applicants were selected to receive a portion of the $1.5 billion allotted.

Congress established the TIGER grant program in 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Investment Act. The program aims to fund innovative transportation projects that “have a significant impact on the Nation, a metropolitan area, or region” and would unlikely have received funding through traditional appropriations channels.

Due to the enormous competition, successful TIGER grant applicants had to submit a thorough application demonstrating a strong cost-benefit analysis and empirical evidence that the project had both financial and environmental advantages for the region.

Capital Partnerships is proud of its client, the Appalachian Regional Short Line Project, which was awarded $17,551,028. These funds will go to rehabilitate hundreds of miles of rail in Tennessee, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

Applicants who were unsuccessful or unable to apply for this latest round of TIGER grants should not be disheartened. Another $600 million has been appropriated for awards in 2010.

Click here to view DOT’s press release and learn more about the Appalachian Regional Short Line Project on page 32.