Washington, DC - Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement regarding the Obama administration's announcement today that the Department of Transportation (DOT) is providing a $421 million Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan to help finance the SR-91 Corridor Improvement Project in Southern California. Once completed, the SR-91 Corridor Improvement Project is expected to reduce traffic delays, allow faster emergency response, relieve local street congestion, and create new jobs.

Senator Boxer said: "This is good news for Southern California. Not only will the SR-91 Corridor Improvement Project help ease traffic congestion, but it will also reduce dangerous air pollution and provide a boost to the local economy and construction industry."

Construction on the project is expected to start in early 2014. According to the Riverside County Transportation Commission, the SR-91 Corridor Improvement Project is expected to create 16,200 jobs.

California benefits from the TIFIA program, which helps communities leverage their transportation resources by providing direct loans, loan guarantees, and lines of credit. The Federal Highway Administration has stated that historically every Federal dollar spent through the TIFIA program can mobilize up to $30 in transportation investments. The expanded TIFIA program, entitled America Fast Forward, is a critical part of the bipartisan transportation bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), which Senator Boxer moved through Congress last year. MAP-21 was signed into law in July 2012.

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