ITS America applauds latest TIGER grants

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced US$500 million in TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) 2015 grants for 39 transportation projects in 34 states, some projects spanning several states.

In selecting projects, Foxx prioritised the extent to which the proposed project strengthens access to opportunities through transportation improvements.

Grants include US$25 million to implement a regional truck parking information management system along interstates in Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin; US$16.9 million to install bus rapid transit (BRT) infrastructure, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) upgrades, including transit signal priority, and complete streets improvements along approximately 15 miles of the Dixie Highway corridor; US$10 million to improve east-west travel options along the Hudson Links I-287 corridor in Rockland and Westchester counties in New York that will retime traffic signals and improve overall corridor management; US$9 million to assist in the construction of a multimodal travel plaza on I-95 in Hopkinton, Rhode Island, that will include electric vehicle charging stations; US$6.8 million to assist in the development and deployment of technology for fixed and demand-response transit operators in rural transit service areas across rural Ohio.

“Transportation is always about the future. If we're just fixing today's problems, we'll fall further and further behind. We already know that a growing population and increasing freight traffic will require our system to do more," said Secretary Foxx. “In this round of TIGER, we selected projects that focus on where the country’s transportation infrastructure needs to be in the future; ever safer, ever more innovative, and ever more targeted to open the floodgates of opportunity across America.”

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (560 ITS America) applauded the grants, which it said support the integration of intelligent transportation systems technologies to maximise transportation assets and deliver game-changing safety and efficiency advancements to the US transportation network.

President and CEO Regina Hopper said “ITS America is thrilled to see US DOT recognise New York, Rhode Island, Ohio, Kentucky and a Kansas-led consortium of states across the mid-west as 2015 TIGER grant winners for the deployment of ITS that promise to help better manage, maintain, and modernise our nation’s transportation network. These projects will be critical for advancing the broader adoption of ITS technologies that are making our nation’s roadways and vehicles safer, reducing traffic congestion and costs and that meet both current and future demands of larger transportation network.”