	Introduction

The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program provides long-term, low-interest loans and other types of credit assistance for the construction of surface transportation projects. The TIFIA prog ram, administered by the Build America Bureau of the Department of Transportation (DOT), was reauthorized most recently in the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act ( P.L. 114-94 ) from FY2016 through FY2020. Direct funding for the TIFIA program to make loans is authorized at $300 million for each of FY2019 and FY2020, but state departments of transportation can also use federal-aid highway grant money, both formula and discretionary, to subsidize much larger loans. The primary goal of the TIFIA program, historically, has been to enable the construction of large-scale surface transportation projects by providing low-interest, long-term financing to complement state, local, and private investment. The TIFIA program has been one of the main ways in which the federal government has encouraged the development of public-private partnerships (P3s) and private financing in surface transportation often backed by new, but sometimes uncertain, revenue sources such as highway tolls, other types of user charges, and incremental real estate taxes. 105-178 ) through FY2018, the TIFIA program has provided assistance of $32 billion to 74 projects with a total cost of about $117 billion (in FY2018 inflation-adjusted dollars). Loans and loan guarantees can be provided up to a maximum of 49% of project costs; lines of credit can be for an amount up to a maximum of 33% of project costs. Another requirement is that loans must be repaid with a dedicated revenue stream, typically a project-related user fee, such as a toll, but sometimes dedicated tax revenue. Financing projects instead of relying on pay-as-you go funding can mean such projects can be constructed years earlier than otherwise. TIFIA, therefore, is a means to accelerate project delivery and the benefits that flow from new infrastructure. Under FCRA, the cost to the federal government of a credit program is the administrative cost plus the subsidy cost of the credit assistance. Projects Financed

Except for one loan guarantee, every credit agreement under the TIFIA program to date has been a loan. The average project cost is about $1.5 billion and the average loan amount $430 million (both in FY2018 dollars). About two-thirds of TIFIA loans have gone to highway and highway bridge projects and another quarter to public transportation. TIFIA assistance has been geographically limited, with projects in 21 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico receiving financing. Ten states account for about 80% of the 74 projects supported. Although the TIFIA program has supported the creation of P3s and leveraged private capital for transportation projects, government involvement remains more important in TIFIA-supported projects. At the moment, states do not have to make that trade because the TIFIA program is not in danger of running out of budget authority. If the TIFIA program does exhaust its direct funding in the future, an unanswered question is whether states will choose to use grant funding to pay the subsidy and administrative costs of a loan. More applications for credit assistance might result from lowering the fees and other costs associated with federal support. Ultimately, decisions about the level of risk that the TIFIA program is willing to take are made by DOT's Credit Council and the Secretary of Transportation within the limits of the program's statutory requirements. 731 (116 th Congress), is to require TIFIA loans to be considered part of the nonfederal share of surface transportation projects. S. 3647 (115 th Congress) would have allowed $10 million in TIFIA program funds to pay the subsidy costs of credit assistance to airport-related projects. Another option for broadening eligibility is to create a new entity such as a national infrastructure bank. The limitations of a national infrastructure bank include its duplication of existing programs like TIFIA.
The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program, administered by the Department of Transportation's Build America Bureau, provides long-term, low-interest loans and other types of credit assistance for the construction of surface transportation projects (23 U.S.C. §601 et seq.). The TIFIA program was reauthorized from FY2016 through FY2020 in the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (P.L. 114-94). Direct funding for the TIFIA program is authorized at $300 million for each of FY2019 and FY2020. Additionally, state departments of transportation can use other federal-aid highway grant money, both formula and discretionary, to subsidize much larger loans. To date, states have not had to use other grant funding to subsidize credit assistance because the TIFIA program has a relatively large unexpended funding balance.
The primary goal of the TIFIA program, historically, has been to enable the construction of large-scale surface transportation projects by providing financing to complement state, local, and private investment. The TIFIA program has been one of the main ways in which the federal government has encouraged the development of public-private partnerships (P3s) and private financing in surface transportation often backed by new, but sometimes uncertain, revenue sources such as highway tolls, other types of user charges, and incremental real estate taxes. To be eligible for TIFIA assistance, a project sponsor must be deemed creditworthy, that is, a good risk for repaying its debts, and must have a dedicated source of revenue for repayment. Project sponsors, therefore, are required to develop a funding mechanism, whether this is a new user fee or tax or the repurposing of existing fees and taxes. Changes to the TIFIA program have sought to make TIFIA assistance more accessible to less costly projects, but so far every TIFIA-supported project has cost $175 million or more.
Financing projects instead of relying on pay-as-you go funding from taxes and other existing revenues can mean such projects can be constructed years earlier. TIFIA, therefore, is a means to accelerate project delivery and the benefits that flow from new infrastructure. The TIFIA program is also a relatively low-cost way for the federal government to support surface transportation projects because it relies on loans, not grants, and the TIFIA assistance is typically one-third or less of project costs. Another advantage from the federal point of view is that a relatively small amount of budget authority can be leveraged into a large amount of loan capacity. Because the government expects its loans to be repaid, an appropriation need only cover administrative costs and the subsidy cost of credit assistance. Program funding of $300 million can support approximately $4 billion in TIFIA loans.
Since its enactment in 1998, the TIFIA program has provided assistance of $32 billion to 74 projects with a total cost of about $117 billion (in FY2018 inflation-adjusted dollars). All but one TIFIA credit agreement has been a loan; the exception is a loan guarantee. The average TIFIA-supported project cost is $1.5 billion, and the average TIFIA loan is $430 million (both in FY2018 dollars). About two-thirds of TIFIA loans have gone to highway and highway bridge projects, and another quarter to public transportation. TIFIA has supported at least one project in 21 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, but the top 10 states account for about 80% of the 74 projects supported.
The TIFIA program is likely to be considered in the 116th Congress during the reauthorization of the surface transportation programs. Program funding is one issue that may be discussed, because some stakeholders would like more budget authority despite a relatively large unexpended balance and the existing authority of states to use grant funding to pay the subsidy cost of credit assistance. Criticisms of the program and its implementation include the often slow decisionmaking process, the program's increasing risk aversion, and the limitation of the federal share of project costs to 33%, despite a statutory limit of 49%. Because of the relatively large unexpended balance, Congress might considered broadening the use of TIFIA assistance to nonsurface transportation and nontransportation infrastructure. Another option might be to create a national infrastructure bank, a federal infrastructure financing entity largely independent of other executive branch agencies, to take the place of TIFIA and other federal infrastructure credit assistance programs.