FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 22, 2000
Contact: Bill Adams
Tel.: (202) 366-5580
DOT 227-00

U.S. Transportation Secretary Slater Announces $880 Million in Innovative Federal Financing for Two Projects Totaling $3.46 Billion

Expanding on the Clinton-Gore administration's record of providing innovative financing for transportation projects, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today named two more projects to benefit from the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA).

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will provide $880 million of credit assistance in the form of federal loans to projects of national and regional significance in Texas and Nevada worth $3.46 billion. This credit assistance is estimated to cost the federal government only $95 million. Therefore, every TIFIA dollar spent will contribute to more than $36 in capital investment.

"Through TIFIA, we are responding to President Clinton and Vice President Gore's call to create a government that works better and costs less," said Secretary Slater. "By providing a new and better way of doing business, we are making possible major transportation investments which might otherwise not have received financing and moved forward."

TIFIA, authorized under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and signed into law by President Clinton in June 1998, authorized an innovative financing program under which the DOT provides credit assistance rather than grants to public and private sponsors of major surface transportation projects. The DOT has now selected 10 projects to benefit from TIFIA, at a budgetary cost of only $194 million to the federal government, providing $3.14 billion in credit assistance supporting transportation investments worth nearly $12 billion.

The two projects selected for fiscal year 2001 funding under TIFIA are:

Central Texas Turnpike Project, Texas This $3.2 billion project, supported by an $800 million TIFIA loan, extends from north of Austin to San Antonio and traverses four Texas counties. The project consists of construction of a 122-mile turnpike that consists of four distinct, but interconnected, elements (SH 45, Loop 1, US 183A, and SH 130). The largest component, SH 130, is a 90-mile facility that runs parallel to Interstate 35. Completion of all elements of the project is expected in 2009.

Reno Transportation Rail Access Corridor Project, Nevada This $242 million project, supported by a $79.5 million TIFIA loan, will construct a below-grade, 2.25-mile transportation rail corridor through downtown Reno with 2 mainline tracks and an access road; replace 10 at-grade rail crossings with bridges; and construct a new bridge, as well as a "shoofly" track for rail bypass during construction. Completion of the project is expected in 2005.

TIFIA is designed to provide federal credit assistance to major transportation infrastructure projects that address critical national needs, such as intermodal facilities, border crossing infrastructure, highway trade corridors, and transit and passenger rail facilities with regional and national benefits.

Projects eligible for assistance under TIFIA include highways and bridges; transit facilities and vehicles; intercity passenger bus and rail facilities and vehicles, including Amtrak and components of magnetic levitation systems; and publicly owned intermodal surface freight transfer facilities that are on or adjacent to the National Highway System.

To be eligible, a project also must generally cost at least $100 million or equal at least 50 percent of the amount of federal highway assistance funds apportioned for the most recent fiscal year to the state in which the project is located. The project also must be supported at least partially by user charges or other dedicated revenues.

The program provides three types of financial assistance and addresses a project's varying capital needs during development, construction and operation. These include:

Direct federal loans that provide up-front capital to project sponsors;

Loan guarantees which provide full-faith-and-credit guarantees by the federal government to institutional investors that make loans for projects; and

Standby lines of credit representing contingent federal loans that may be drawn upon to supplement project revenues on the occurrence of certain events during the first 10 years of project operations.

Qualified projects were evaluated by the DOT based on the statutory selection criteria that include the extent to which the projects would generate economic benefits, encourage private participation, promote innovative technologies, and meet other transportation objectives.

Two project sponsors that submitted applications for fiscal year 2001 funding under TIFIA remain under consideration. One project, the Newark-Elizabeth (NJ) Rail Link, was deferred pending completion of additional environmental analysis. The other project, a proposal by Amtrak to finance the remanufacture of electric locomotives for its Acela Regional passenger service, is still being reviewed by the DOT.

The projects selected to receive support under TIFIA in 1999 were State Route 125, San Diego; the Miami, Fla., Intermodal Center; the Tren Urbano transit system, San Juan, Puerto Rico; the Farley-Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Project, New York City; and the Metrorail Capital Program, Washington, D.C. The projects selected in 2000 were Staten Island Ferries and Terminals, New York City; the Cooper River Bridge, Charleston, S.C.; and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Pierce County, WA.

Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) Web Site