(Source: Federal Railroad Administration press release, November 9, 2015)
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Federal Railroad Administrator Sarah Feinberg today announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation will provide $10 million for the Barnum Station Project in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The project is one of 39 federally-funded transportation projects in 34 states selected to receive a total of nearly $500 million under the Department’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2015 program. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced project selections for this round of TIGER grants on October 29.
The Department received 627 eligible applications from 50 states and several U.S. territories, including Tribal governments, requesting 20 times the $500 million available for the program, or $10.1 billion for needed transportation projects.
“Transportation is always about the future. If we’re just fixing today’s problems, we’ll fall further and further behind. We already know that a growing population and increasing freight traffic will require our system to do more,” said Secretary Foxx. “In this round of TIGER, we selected projects that focus on where the country’s transportation infrastructure needs to be in the future; ever safer, ever more innovative, and ever more targeted to open the floodgates of opportunity across America.”
This TIGER grant will provide funding to support construction of a new commuter rail station, which will serve the Metro North Railroad on the east side of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The project includes widening the existing tracks to accommodate two center island platforms, constructing an underpass tunnel to provide platform access, and modifying roadways. The project plans were an outcome of a HUD Sustainable Communities planning grant, and the project aims to provide additional rail access to a low-income community. The project will complement plans for new transit-oriented development and thus enhance Ladders of Opportunity for east Bridgeport..
With this latest round of funding, TIGER continues to invest in transformative projects that will provide significant and measurable improvements over existing conditions. The awards recognize projects nationwide that will advance key transportation goals such as safety, innovation, and opportunity.
“This project is much more than just a stop on a train route,” said Administrator Feinberg. “Barnum Station creates new access to transportation in a former manufacturing area and will increase Metro North ridership and benefit workers. The TIGER program really enables innovative transportation projects to become a reality.”
This is the seventh TIGER round since 2009, bringing the total grant amount to $4.6 billion provided to 381 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, including 134 projects to support rural and tribal communities. Demand for the program has been overwhelming; to date, the U.S. Department of Transportation has received more than 6,700 applications requesting more than $134 billion for transportation projects across the country.
The GROW AMERICA Act, the Administration’s surface transportation legislative proposal, would keep TIGER roaring with $7.5 billion over six years for future TIGER grants.