The first full fiscal year of the TIFIA 2.0 era started with a bang on day one, with USDOT’s October 1 approval of a $545.9-million loan for Los Angeles to construct the Crenshaw-LAX light rail project. The final approval was not surprising news, but it was still a long-awaited victory for L.A. Mayor Villagairosa, who made TIFIA financing a key priority for his “30/10” initiative and actively lobbied for expanding the program in MAP-21. It was also an opportunity for USDOT’s transit-friendly leadership to tout TIFIA’s potential for transit projects, to counter the perception from many advocates that MAP-21 reforms tilted the program too far in favor of highway projects at the expense of transit.