DOT to seek RFPs for $1.5 billion grant program

DOT to seek RFPs for $1.5 billion grant program

LaHood

   The U.S. Transportation Department on Monday will publish a solicitation in the Federal Register for a $1.5 billion competitive grant program to build transportation infrastructure of regional or national significance.
   The discretionary funding program is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act designed to use government spending to jumpstart the economy.
   Secretary Ray LaHood said in a May 11 speech at a trade and infrastructure symposium that the department expects to receive hundreds of applications from states and local governments interested in surface and maritime transportation projects.
   Innovative financing methods that combine public and private sector investments should be developed in the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization bill to generate the money needed to improve the nation's freight transportation systems, he reiterated.
   The multimodal grant program could serve as 'beta test' for funding transportation projects in the future if it includes guidelines that encourage private investment, John Flaherty, a principal at the Carlyle Group's transportation and infrastructure investment fund, said at the symposium co-sponsored by the Commerce and Transportation departments.
   LaHood, in a testy response to a press question afterwards, rejected the findings of an Associated Press analysis that showed counties with higher levels of unemployment are expected to receive less highway funding from the economic recovery legislation than jurisdictions with low unemployment.
   In one case, according to the AP, Elk County, Pa., isn't receiving any road money from the stimulus despite its 13.8 percent unemployment rate, while Riley County, Kan., with 3.4 percent unemployment, will receive $56 million to build a highway, improve an intersection and restore an historic farmhouse.
   LaHood said comparing the location of a transportation project to the jobless level in the immediate vicinity is not fair because 'people come from all over the region to work on these jobs. They come from all over the state.
   'The idea is to take people who have been on unemployment and put them to work in good paying jobs,' he said.
   The government's $787 billion stimulus plan provided $48.1 billion for ready-to-go transportation infrastructure projects, including about $27 billion for road repair and expansion.
   To date, the Department of Transportation has certified 2,800 projects such as rebuilding overpasses, widening interchanges, and repaving roadways.
   Federal and state officials say the quick pace of approvals is driving contractors who want a piece of the work to submit lower bids, meaning many projects are coming in 15 percent to 20 percent under budget. ' Eric Kulisch