“The Obama Administration is launching the largest transportation loan program in DOT history. Through the TIFIA (Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act) program, $1.7 billion in capital will be used to make available up to $17 billion in credit assistance for critical infrastructure projects across the country.”
This is a continuation of a “trusted infrastructure loan program,” a program used to put Americans to work right away constructing the big transportation projects we need to prosper. The TIFIA program provides direct loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines of credit to major infrastructure projects throughout the nation, as well as offers flexible terms and gives many qualified, large scale projects the extra push needed to break ground and put people to work.
Through the recently enacted transportation bill, MAP-21, “the capital available for our TIFIA credit assistance program jumped from $120 million for fiscal year 2012 to an unprecedented $1.7 billion for the next two years. Each dollar of federal funds can provide approximately $10 in TIFIA credit assistance, meaning $17 billion in loans through TIFIA, which in turn can leverage $20-$30 billion in transportation infrastructure investment.”
That means these funds could soon leverage up to $50 billion in public and private investment to address important infrastructure needs across the country—and create good jobs in the process.
“To date, project sponsors have used $9.2 billion in TIFIA loans to leverage more than $36.4 billion in capital. These funds have supported 27 major transportation projects across the country. Projects like the Denver Union Station revitalization in Colorado and the much-needed expansion of the road connecting San Francisco with communities on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.”
To read the full article, see the U.S. DOT’s website.