It’s TIGER time again
Photo by Paul Li on Flickr.
Each of the past three years the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to local governments, as part of a program called TIGER. Each year the Metropolitan Washington Transportation Planning Board (TPB) puts together an application on behalf of the DC region.
This year, TPB is submitting an application for $24 million that would go towards improving bicycle and pedestrian access to rail stations.
TIGER grants are extremely competitive nationally. The money can be used for almost anything related to transportation, so thousands of applications are submitted every year. USDOT funds the projects it deems most worthy, based on an extensive set of evaluation criteria.
If TPB’s submission is funded, the money would go to completing the following projects:
| Project | Description |
| Fort Totten street improvements | Rebuild 1st Place NE and Galloway Road NE in DC to make them more pedestrian friendly. |
| Forest Glen over/underpass and bikesharing | Construct a grade-separated pedestrian/bicyclist crossing of Georgia Avenue, and establish 10 Capital Bikeshare stations in the Forest Glen neighborhood. |
| New Carrollton street improvements | Sidewalk and crossing improvements at multiple locations around New Carrollton station, in anticipation of future TOD. |
| Twinbrook street improvements | Sidewalk and crossing improvements at multiple locations around Twinbrook station, in anticipation of future TOD. |
| West Hyattsville sidewalks and bike station | Improve sidewalks around West Hyattsville station, and construct a full-service bicycle station similar to the one at Union Station. |
| Pentagon City cycle track and bikesharing | Reconstruct Army Navy Drive to be a complete street, including a two-way cycle track, and add 10 Capital Bikeshare stations to Columbia Pike. |
| VRE bike parking | Add 35 secure bike lockers with capacity for 70 bikes at a total of 8 VRE stations located outside the Beltway. |
Two years ago, during the initial round of TIGER allocations, TPB successfully won a grant for about $60 million worth of bus priority improvements. Last year they requested money for a massive expansion of Capital Bikeshare, but unfortunately did not receive funding. Hopefully the region will be successful again this year.
