Yesterday the U.S. Department of Transportation announced $511 million in funding for 46 transportation projects through the agency’s third round of its Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program.

This extremely popular program received 848 project applications from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, requesting a total of $14.29 billion, far more than the $511 million made available for grants. The TIGER III grants will help communities move forward on a variety of transportation infrastructure projects including road and bridge improvements; transit upgrades; freight, port and rail expansions; and new options for bicyclists and pedestrians.

“The overwhelming demand for these grants clearly shows that communities across the country can’t afford to wait any longer for Congress to put Americans to work building the transportation projects that are critical to our economic future,” said DOT Secretary Ray LaHood. “That’s why we’ve taken action to get these grants out the door quickly, and that is why we will continue to ask Congress to make the targeted investments we need to create jobs, repair our nation’s transportation systems, better serve the traveling public and our nation’s businesses, factories and farms, and make sure our economy continues to grow.”