The Department of Transportation announced $600 million in federal grants under the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program.

The money is being awarded to 72 projects out of 797 applications in a competitive process designed to focus resources where they are most needed.

“As uncertainty about the future of long-term federal funding continues, this round of TIGER will be a shot in the arm for these innovative, job-creating and quality of life-enhancing projects,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a statement.

“For every project we select, however, we must turn dozens more away,” Foxx added. He said that if Congress would pass the Obama administration’s highway bill, the GROW America Act, funding for the TIGER program would double.

In the past five years the TIGER program has granted more than $4.1 billion to transportation projects, according to DOT.

This round of grants aims to cut travel times, increase predictability and attract new jobs to communities, DOT said.

Included, for instance, are $24.9 million for a 7.6-mile bus line in Richmond, Va., $10 million to replace a bridge over the Missouri River in Washington, Mo., and $17.9 million to replace roads in Claiborne County, Miss.

A DOT website has more information about the grants.