Infra Insight Blog

On Monday March 14, House Transportation Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL) conducted the latest of a series of field hearings, this one in his home district in Central Florida, to discuss pending major transportation legislation. It was the only scheduled field hearing in Florida on the transportation bill. The hearing was focused on improving and reforming our nation's surface transportation programs.

Among those asked to testify were:

• Geoffrey Yarema, Partner, Nossaman LLP
• The Honorable Frank Bruno, County Chair, County of Volusia
• Ananth Prasad, Assistant Secretary for ...

The fiscally conservative House majority continues to pursue reductions in federal spending, and federal transportation spending is part of the mix.  Further use of the general fund to supplement the Highway Trust Fund motor fuel taxes, as well as increases in fuel taxes, are opposed by the House majority.  Cuts could come in several forms, including cuts in Title 23 programs overall or cuts to specific programs.

Given the diminishing role of the Highway Trust Fund in funding future transportation investment, federal credit assistance under the TIFIA program needs to grow in ...

On February 17, 2011, Judge Wynne Carvill of the Alameda County Superior Court filed a 38 page opinion denying the efforts of Professional Engineers in California Government (PECG), the union that represents Caltrans engineers, to stop Phase 2 of the Presidio Parkway project in San Francisco.  PECG sued the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)  and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA), as well as the California Transportation Commission and officials of each of these agencies, seeking a halt to Phase 2, which had been awarded as a public private ...

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has released the report "Public-Private Partnerships for Transportation: A Toolkit for Legislators."  The text of the report is short and concise (32 pages, with multiple appendices), yet provides a thorough overview of the the pros and cons of PPPs.  It also sets forth nine principles for consideration by legislators in deciding if and how to pursue public-private partnerships.  

The report is very well sourced, with examples of how projects and jurisdictions addressed matters that affected their programs and projects.  The ...

AASHTO, through its Center for Excellence in Project Finance, has released its final report on strategies for funding and financing surface transportation for the next decade. The report, Funding and Financing Solutions for Surface Transportation in the Coming Decade,is available for download via AASHTO’s website at the following address:

http://www.transportation-finance.org/pdf/featured_documents/sep_30_report_final_2011_02_02.pdf

In September 2010, AASHTO convened a forum of members of Congress, representatives of state and local governments, and ...

FHWA has extended the deadline for FY2011 TIFIA Letters of Interest (LOI) to March 1, 2011. The previous Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), issued on January 19, had allowed less than a month for interested applicants to prepare and submit LOIs.

The January 25 revised NOFA included a new phrase addressing the role of tolling and pricing programs in enhancing environmental sustainability. Under the revised selection criteria, applicants can demonstrate that their projects help preserve and protect the environment through the use of tolling or pricing structures to reduce ...

The California Department of Transportation started off the New Year with a significant step in its public-private partnership program.  After an Alameda County Superior Court judge dissolved a temporary restraining order and denied a preliminary injunction sought by Professional Engineers in California Government, the California Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, awarded the contract for the Presidio Parkway Project to Golden Link Concessionaire, LLC, a consortium led by Hochtief PPP Solutions North ...