Forty-six transportation projects in 33 states and Puerto Rico are set to receive a total of $511 million from the third round of the U.S. Department of Transportation's (U.S. DOT) TIGER program.

The announcement comes months ahead of schedule and allows communities to move forward with critical, job-creating infrastructure projects including road and bridge improvements; transit upgrades; freight, port and rail expansions; and new options for bicyclists and pedestrians.

U.S. DOT received 848 project applications from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., requesting a total of $14.29 billion, far exceeding the $511 million made available for grants under the TIGER III program.

In November, President Obama directed the U.S. DOT to take common sense steps to expedite transportation projects by accelerating the process for review and approval and leveraging private sector funding to promote growth and job creation. As part of that initiative, DOT accelerated the TIGER III application review process and announced the awards before the end of 2011 - months ahead of the planned spring 2012 announcement.

The grants will fund a wide range of innovative transportation projects in urban and rural areas across the country:

• Of the $511 million in TIGER III funds available for grants, more than $150 million will go to critical projects in rural areas.

• Roughly 48% of the funding will go to road and bridge projects, including more than $64 million for Complete Streets projects that will spur small business growth and benefit motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians.

• Twenty-nine percent of the funding will support transit projects like the Westside Multimodal Transit Center in San Antonio.

• Twelve percent will help build port projects like the Port of New Orleans Rail Yard Improvements.

• Ten percent will go to freight rail projects like the Muldraugh Bridge Replacement in Kentucky.

• Three grants were also directed to tribal governments to create jobs and address critical transportation needs in Indian country.

• Three grants will provide better multimodal access to airports, including DFW in Texas.

Work has already begun on 33 planning projects while 58 capital projects are under way across the country from the previous two rounds of TIGER, and an additional 13 projects are expected to break ground over the next six months.

A complete list of grant recipients can be viewed here.