The TIGER grant program has come under fire for putting politics ahead of technical concerns

Collapsed FIU Bridge Was Funded by Federal Grant Program Criticized for Shoddy, Politicized Review Process
Christian Britschgi | Reason
Mar. 15, 2018)
Click here

[snip]

Photo: Pedro Portal/TNS/Newscom

The pedestrian bridge that collapsed at Florida International University's Miami-Dade campus today, killing several people, was funded with $11.4 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program. The TIGER program has come under repeated fire for awarding money based on politics rather than merit.

Eight vehicles were reportedly crushed when the 174-foot, 950-ton pedestrian bridge, installed Saturday over Southwest Eighth Street in Miami, collapsed this afternoon. The bridge was supposed to demonstrate methods developed by FIU's Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center (ABC-UTC), whose work is also funded by U.S. DOT grants.

"This project is an outstanding example of the ABC method," said Atorod Azizinamini, the center's director, in a press release on Saturday. "This bridge is the result of great support from our congressional delegation and the U.S. Department of Transportation," said FIU CFO Kenneth Jessell in the same press release. "FIU and our surrounding community will benefit from this project for generations to come."