Overview
In 2009, as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the National Infrastructure Investment (or TIGER) grant program was created to provide competitive federal funding to multi-modal transportation projects of regional and national significance in response to the Great Recession. In the program’s first year, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) received over 1,400 applications worth nearly $60 billion in project value for just $1.5 billion in total funding.
In 2015, recognizing the need to address nationally significant freight infrastructure bottlenecks, Congress created the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight grant program to provide federal funding for improvements to safety, efficiency, and reliability of the movement of freight and people across the nation. In the program’s first year, over 200 applications were received worth nearly $10 billion in project value for just $800 million in total funding.
While both programs have been renamed numerous times, they continue to be two of the most competitive and popular federal transportation and infrastructure funding programs. Additionally, the passage of the historic $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in 2021 has created new and exciting USDOT discretionary grant programs to support infrastructure. However, based on recent history, only extremely competitive applicants will receive funding.
TG&A has closely worked with transportation providers, public agencies, and public-private partnerships to successfully position and guide projects through extremely competitive national funding opportunities. Together, we generate critical support from Members of Congress, national stakeholder groups, and state and local officials to help make our clients stand out.
The Goal
Strategically align infrastructure projects to USDOT investment priorities and implement impactful outreach campaigns to generate support from federal, state, and local officials and influential national stakeholders.
The Strategy
TG&A combines our extensive experience and subject matter expertise in infrastructure and transportation planning and programs with our political acumen and knowledge of USDOT investment priorities to assist clients in advancing suitable projects for federal funding. Once a project has been identified, we work with our clients to position the project as a key regional priority before Members of Congress and their staffs to generate impactful delegation-wide support from Congress to USDOT.
The Results
Since our founding in 2017, TG&A clients have won over $100 million in competitive USDOT discretionary grants. We are proud that in each of the past three fiscal years, TG&A clients have secured a highly competitive National Infrastructure Investment grant (TIGER/BUILD/RAISE).
1. FY 2022 - $20 million RAISE Grant award for the Harvey Intermodal Transportation Center project – Harvey, IL
a. Funding will support multi-modal transit opportunities for Pace and Metra users in the south suburbs of Chicago, a historically disadvantaged area.
b. Project partners the City of Harvey, Metra, and Pace closely coordinated to generate regional support for this important transit access project.
2. FY 2021 - $18 million RAISE grant award for the West Side Bridges Retrofit – San Francisco, CA
a. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) will utilize funding to seismically retrofit eight critical bridge structures between Yerba Buena Island, Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge, ensuring safety and investing in resilient infrastructure.
b. The project is a key part of SFCTA’s Treasure Island Transportation Program, an innovative suite of transportation and housing projects that will combine the development of over 8,000 homes on Treasure Island with sustainable and equitable transportation.
3. FY 2020 - $20 million BUILD grant award for the Stockton Diamond Grade Separation project – Stockton, CA
a. The Stockton Diamond Grade Separation project will untangle the state of California’s busiest at-grade railroad crossing, enhancing the movement of freight, commuter, and intercity passenger trains through the San Joaquin Valley.
b. In Fiscal Year 2020, the Stockton Diamond was the only rail project awarded a grant in the cycle and was one of only two awards in the state of California.
We also have had recent successes with highly competitive Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight grants on behalf of our clients including:
• FY 2021 - $5 million INFRA Grant award for the 143rd Street Extension project – Plainfield, IL
o The extension project will help to alleviate traffic congestion and freight movement through Plainfield’s downtown area and was one of just 24 projects selected for award in FY 2021.
Work with Us
We are a specialized and nimble advocacy firm with deep expertise in government funding, with a focus on transportation infrastructure and natural resource issues. We look forward to hearing from you.
