The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) issued a Notice of Funding Availability for the fourth round of the TIGER program on January 31, 2012. The 2012 program will make available $500 million, including set-asides for rural areas and the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) credit assistance program. U.S. DOT's pre-application system opened February 13, and the deadline for pre-applications is February 20 at 4:00 pm CT. Applicants can apply on-line beginning February 22. The deadline for final applications is March 19 at 4:00 pm CT. Awardees must obligate their TIGER grants by September 30, 2013.

First established in 2009 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program provides discretionary grants for surface transportation projects of regional, metropolitan, or national significance. According to this press release, the previous three rounds of the TIGER program provided $2.6 billion to 172 projects. The Chicago region has been successful in past TIGER rounds. The CREATE program was awarded a $100 million grant in the first TIGER round in 2009. In the third TIGER round in 2011, the CTA Blue Line and City Bike Share programs were awarded a combined $20 million grant, and the IL-83 reconstruction project in the south suburbs was awarded a nearly $10.5 million grant.

The TIGER program supports the principles of GO TO 2040, which calls for strategic transportation investments made on performance-based criteria and an increased commitment to public transportation.