Justification of the necessity for the changes

FAST Act / TIFIA credit program 

Justification for changes

Title II of the FAST Act makes additional modifications to improve access to the TIFIA program and expand leveraging opportunities.  Specifically, it updates the TIFIA program to enable it to be better utilized by rural areas and more accessible for small projects. This is accomplished by using the leveraging ability of TIFIA to support state infrastructure banks and allowing the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to set-aside TIFIA funding in order to replace the fees typically collected from TIFIA borrowers to pay for independent financial analysis and outside counsel for rural projects.