SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced yesterday that California will receive an additional $130 million in new funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) for four highway, local, street, rail and port projects across the state. The funding will be provided under the Recovery Act’s $1.5 billion Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grant program.
“These additional competitive grants are exactly the type of funding that the Governor has fought for since the Recovery Act was signed,” said Senior Advisor to the Governor and Director of the California Recovery Task Force Herb K. Schultz. “The Recovery Act continues to preserve and create jobs and is enabling us to make investments in our transportation infrastructure that will provide much needed jobs and work towards the efficient movement of goods to improve our economy.”
Projects awarded funding through the TIGER Program include:
•$46 million for the Doyle Drive project in San Francisco, bringing a busy bay area interchange up to seismic safety standards
•$33.8 million for freight corridor improvements at the Colton Crossing in San Bernardino County, improving travel times at a vital crossing for the entire Country.
•$30 million for the Ports of Oakland, West Sacramento and Stockton to move freight via barge instead of highway, a valuable project in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
•$20.2 million for a new highway interchange at the Otay East border crossing, drastically reducing congestion at our border.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and various agencies representing urban and rural areas in many regions of the state submitted 117 TIGER Grant applications directly to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The grants were awarded to state and local governments or transit agencies on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant impact on the nation, a metropolitan area, or a region. In addition, priority was given to projects that require a contribution of federal funds in order to complete an overall financing package and to projects that are expected to be completed by February 17, 2012.
“The Recovery Act continues to fund projects that will improve the safety and efficiency of our transportation system,” said Caltrans Director Randy Iwasaki.
Under Governor Schwarzenegger’s leadership, California leads the nation with $2.47 billion in Recovery Act funding obligated to more than 850 highway and local street transportation projects statewide. Of these, 481 projects worth $2.45 billion have been awarded contracts to begin work, with an additional $317 million in Recovery Act funds expected to be awarded to 94 projects by the end of the month. For more information on the Recovery Act visit: www.recovery.ca.gov.
For a complete list of TIGER projects receiving funding, please visit www.dot.gov/affairs/2010/dot3010.htm.
