"We are particularly pleased to see nine TIGER grants awarded to states for freight and intermodal improvements," said AASHTO President Butch Brown, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation, whose emphasis areas this year include improving freight transportation. "These investments will unclog bottlenecks that delay freight shipments, reconstruct ports, improve rail lines -- producing long-term economic benefits well beyond the initial construction work."

States also received grants for seven highway, three bridge, and three transit projects. A complete list of all projects and their descriptions can be found at tinyurl.com/TIGERgrants2010.

"The federal economic recovery TIGER funds awarded today to states will support a total project volume of $4 billion when state, local, private, and other matching funds are combined," said John Horsley, AASHTO executive director. "State DOTs have already started or completed work on 12,250 recovery projects worth $26.4 billion. On today's one-year anniversary of the recovery act's signing, states are once again ready to create thousands of new jobs in the short term during design and construction of these TIGER projects while building critical infrastructure that will benefit generations of Americans to come."

An AASHTO report outlining the first year of state successes in spending the transportation portion of the recovery act is available at recovery.transportation.org.

Several states shared grants for regional projects including $98 million for Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia's National Gateway Freight Rail Corridor. The project will enhance operations along three major CSX freight rail corridors through the Midwest and along the Atlantic coast. Improvements will allow trains to carry double-stack containers, increase freight capacity, and make the corridor more marketable to major East Coast ports and shippers.

Other significant freight awards given to state-sponsored projects include $105 million for intermodal facilities in Birmingham, AL, and Memphis, TN; $100 million to the Illinois Department of Transportation for a package of 78 projects that address freight rail congestion in the Chicago area; $33.8 million to the California Department of Transportation to eliminate a grade crossing in Colton that has become a chokepoint for freight trains coming in and out of the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles; $24.5 million to the Hawaii Department of Transportation to reconstruct a container yard at Honolulu Harbor; and $20 million to the Mississippi State Port Authority for rail improvements at the Port of Gulfport.

Also receiving TIGER grants are state projects for substantial improvements to New York's Penn Station; construction of a new border crossing between Port Huron, MI, and Canada; several light-rail projects; the first multimodal bridge in Tulsa, OK; and a new divided freeway in Spokane, WA.

Other TIGER grants went directly to cities, metropolitan organizations, and other entities. Overall, the competitive grant program received more than 1,400 applications from all 50 states and the U.S. territories for more than $56 billion worth of projects. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the grant awards Wednesday in Kansas City, MO.

"TIGER grants will tackle the kind of major transportation projects that have been difficult to build under other funding programs," LaHood said. "This will help us meet the 21st century challenges of improving the environment, making our communities more livable, and enhancing safety, all while creating jobs and growing the economy."

LaHood noted in a Wednesday blog posting that specialists at U.S. DOT used four criteria to evaluate TIGER grant applications: long-term outcomes, job creation/economic stimulus, innovation, and partnerships.

Congress has appropriated an additional $600 million for TIGER grants in Fiscal Year 2010 outside of the recovery act. Those funds will be disbursed following a separate application and evaluation process.