Infra Insight Blog

Today, DesertXpress Enterprises, LLC (DXE), a group of private investors, received authority from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) to construct and operate a 190-mile dedicated high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas, NV and Victorville, CA. Once the line is constructed, trains will operate at up to 150 miles per hour and provide an energy-efficient alternative to automobile travel on the I-15 corridor and air travel between these two areas of the country.

DXE requested that the STB grant authority to construct and operate this line under an expedited review ...

Yesterday, the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority (KABATA) announced its decision to shortlist three of six teams that submitted statements of qualifications for the Knik Arm Crossing project.  KABATA is procuring an availability payment public-private partnership for the $750 million project. Nossaman acts as KABATA's legal advisor for the procurement.
 
Michael Foster, KABATA's Board Chairman, said, "The process becomes very competitive from here on out. We expect to see some top notch proposals."
 
The shortlisted teams are:

Alaska Infrastructure Access Partners
Infrared ...

Southern California can’t say it’s number one when it comes to having the worst traffic congestion in the country, but it’s a huge economic and social problem for the region which three Southern California transportation agencies are addressing through the use of managed lanes.  That’s what we recently learned at the Women’s Transportation Seminar presentation on October 14, 2011.

On a panel moderated by Rick Backlund, an FHWA region official, we heard from Rose Casey, Program Manager for the Orange County Transportation Authority; Stephanie Wiggins, Executive ...

Ted Houghton is the new chair of the Texas Transportation Commission. Governor Rick Perry announced Houghton's appointment, effective October 7.  Houghton succeeds Deirdre Delisi, who recently resigned.  Delisi had served as chair since 2008.

Houghton was first appointed to the Commission in 2003 and was reappointed in 2009. A native of El Paso, Houghton is self-employed in the financial services industry. He is the first resident of El Paso to serve on the Commission.

"I'd like to thank Governor Perry for his trust in me to continue TxDOT down a path of responsiveness, change and ...

At its first regular meeting since the retirement of Amadeo Saenz, Jr. at the end of August, the Texas Transportation Commission named its choice for his replacement.  Effective October 17, 2011, former Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson began his new job as TxDOT’s 19th Executive Director.  Mr. Wilson comes to TxDOT from Luminant, a Dallas-based electric generation company, where he was the senior vice president of public affairs.

In addition to his position as Texas’ Secretary of State, Mr. Wilson’s history of public service includes time working for both former U.S ...

On October 24, 2011, the Alliance for Toll Interoperability (ATI), an organization of more than 40 toll road operators founded in 2007 for the purpose of promoting and implementing interstate interoperability, will commence pilot operations for four license plate interoperability hubs.  Pursuant to the Interoperability Network Pilot Program (INPP), separate hubs established by four vendors (ACS [a subsidiary of Xerox ], Federal Signal, Cofiroute USA, and Secure Interagency Flow [a CS/Egis joint venture]) will receive license plate data from six tolling agencies (E470 in ...

Nossaman's Geoff Yarema, chair of the Firm's Infrastructure Practice Group and a Commissioner on the Congressionally mandated National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, provided testimony this week to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, "Hearing on National Infrastructure Bank: More Bureaucracy & More Red Tape."

As discussed in a previous blog post, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) recently set new level-entry boarding requirements for disabled passengers on intercity and commuter railroads through amended regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (76 Fed. Reg. 57924).

In the proposed rule, USDOT stated its intent to require passenger railroads to provide level-entry boarding at all new or altered station platforms, unless the passenger railroad could show that level boarding was infeasible.  In the final rule, USDOT retained the level-boarding ...

In a recent move that will have wide-ranging impact on the rail industry, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) set new level-entry boarding requirements for the access of passengers with disabilities to passenger railroads, applicable to new and altered station platforms where construction or alteration begins on or after March 2, 2012.  Through a final rule promulgated on September 19, 2011, USDOT amended its Americans with Disabilities Act regulations to require intercity and commuter passenger railroads to provide that disabled passengers can access any passenger ...

Yesterday the clock struck 4 p.m. in Anchorage, Alaska, the deadline for the P3 industry to submit statements of qualifications for the Knik Arm Crossing project. The public sponsor, Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority (KABATA), found on its desk statements from six experienced teams. This level of interest in a U.S. P3 project has few parallels.  

Here are the six teams:

Knik Bridge Partners

CSEC Holding Company, Inc.

China State Construction International Holdings, Ltd

Bechtel Infrastructure Corporation

CCA Civil, Inc.

Finley Civil ...