USDOT should increase fed share of TIFIA financing, AASHTO says

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has called on the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to increase the federal share of financing projects under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program.

AASHTO representatives recently made comments on the program in written testimony to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which held a hearing last week on TIFIA and innovative financing ideas to pay for transportation projects, the AASHTO Journal reported.

Although Congress through 2012 legislation increased the federal share financing cap to 49 percent of a project's cost from 33 percent previously for TIFIA loans, "as a matter of policy, the USDOT has capped TIFIA project cost share at 33 percent," AASHTO officials said.

Additionally, although the 2015 Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST) required the USDOT to create an expedited application process for TIFIA's project loans, the process often remains burdensome.