Lawmakers announce TIGER VIII grant awards

Congressional lawmakers began announcing the latest Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) VIII grant awards in their districts this week, even though the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) hasn't yet officially announced the awards.

The grants will include awards for transportation projects in the states of Illinois, Mississippi, New York, Rhode Island and Washington, according to press releases and news media reports.

Among the grants are:
• $25 million for a transit gateway project at the Garfield Green Line L station in Chicago's Washington Park neighborhood. The grant will support improvements to the existing Green Line station, and restore the 1892 former "Alley L" station and track structure, according to press releases from U.S. House and Senate representatives of Illinois and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

• $17.6 million for the Albany Port District Commission's project in New York to replace and upgrade an on-dock warehouse, reconstruct an outdoor cargo storage and staging area, and rebuild a port roadway as part of a comprehensive plan to improve the port's project cargo and heavy lift capabilities, according to a press release from U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.).

• $14 million to Springfield, Ill., to construct underpasses at Ash and Laurel streets as part of a plan to consolidate the 10th Street rail line, according to a report by the State Journal-Register.

• $13.1 million to Rhode Island for a project to build a new train station to serve Pawtucket and Central Falls, R.I., according to a report by WPRI.com.

• $10 million for the Port of Everett's plan to modernize its South Terminal, according to a press release from U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

• $10 million to Natchez, Miss., to upgrade bridges on the Natchez Railway, according to the state's congressional representatives quoted in a post on Yallpolitics.com.

• $9.7 million to Horry County, S.C., to help fund upgrades to lines operated by R.J. Corman Railroad Group’s Carolina Lines, according to a release from the office of U.S. Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.).

Administered by the USDOT, the TIGER grant program was created by Congress in 2009. For fiscal-year 2016, Congress appropriated $500 million for the program.