TIGER funds smart growth

US DOT announced its fourth round of competitive TIGER Discretionary Grants, giving $500 million to 47 projects that run the gamut of transportation modes — many of them multimodal. Our analysis finds that 15 of the projects, totaling $161 million, will support smart growth in the form of complete streets, transit-oriented development, urban bike-ped projects, street networks, and a streetcar system in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Many of the other funded projects support freight or passenger rail. Rail garnered $297 million, or 59 percent, of the funding. Port projects also received considerable support. Only a handful of road widenings and highways were funded. Better! Cities & Towns will cover the TIGER grants more extensively in the July-August issue. Here's the complete TIGER list.