The direct loan will help the state more quickly finance the Union Pacific Railroad Overpass Project and a highway project in the state: LA 3241: LA 435-LA 40 segment 3.

The two projects are actually part of a package of four approved by USDOT in August of this year totaling $159.8 million. The other two projects are on a different schedule however and are looking to secure the finances in November.

USDOT is providing the loans so that the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development can more quickly deliver on the projects which will ultimately be funded by a settlement from British Petroleum in connection with a lawsuit over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.

Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or TIFIA loans, are handled by the Build America Bureau, a USDOT branch created during the Obama administration to provide credit opportunities and “technical assistance and encouraging innovative best practices in project planning, financing, delivery, and operation.”

The Bureau has been used during the coronavirus pandemic to help states more quickly recover from the crisis.

Photo via Flickr.