(Source: U.S. Department of Transportation press release, September 20, 2021)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S Department of Transportation today announced that the Biden-Harris Administration will designate 44 projects around the country as INFRA Extra, making them eligible to apply for credit assistance for up to 49% of costs. These projects made it to the final round for funding under the 2021 INFRA competitive grant program, but were not awarded due to a combination of overwhelming demand for INFRA grants and limited funds. Like projects that received INFRA, the projects receiving the INFRA Extra designation will help rebuild America’s infrastructure and create jobs.
“Every year, the Department receives far more qualified applications for the INFRA program than we can fund,” said Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg. “We’re excited to give some of the most promising INFRA finalists a chance to receive a TIFIA loan instead, so we can help advance transformative infrastructure projects all across the country.”
The announcement comes as the Department’s Build America Bureau, which administers the TIFIA loan program, marks its fifth anniversary. The Department also announced the Bureau has awarded five grants under the new Regional Infrastructure Accelerators Program.
This year USDOT received a total of 157 eligible INFRA applications from 42 states, as well as Guam. This year’s applicants collectively requested approximately $6.8 billion in grant funds — nearly seven times more than the $1 billion available for the program. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, now being considered in Congress, increases the INFRA grant program funding by more than 35% — to $8 billion over five years — to help even more communities carry out projects.
The INFRA Extra initiative — announced by the Department earlier this year — provides certain INFRA applicants the opportunity to apply for Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) credit assistance for up to 49% of eligible project costs if the project advanced for funding but was NOT awarded due to resource constraints. This can potentially provide project sponsors with more funding than they would qualify for under a traditional TIFIA loan, which normally can fund up to 33% of a project’s cost, subject to satisfaction of underwriting requirements
The full list of INFRA Extra designation projects is at the link above.