The FAST Act highway bill passed by Congress in early December provides another $1.435 billion for TIFIA loan subsidies over the next 5 years. On top of the approximately $1.8 billion carried over from previous years, that means the total potential subsidy funding is over $3.2 billion, which is twice the amount of subsidy funding the program has used in its 17-year history, according to Bryan Grote of Mercator Advisors.

Only about $1.6 billion was obligated during 1999-2015 to support 55 loans totaling some $22.2 billion, face amount. Assuming a weighted-average subsidy rate of about 7.5% going forward, the $3.2 billion now available could support about $40 billion-$45 billion in new loans, he says. . .