Infra Insight Blog

Posted by guest blogger William Moore.

William Moore of Vianovo works with the Transportation Transformation Group,  a consortia of public and private entities that looks at ways of improving the funding and financing of the nation's transportation infrastructure, which is co-chaired by Nossaman Partner Geoffrey Yarema.

Absent swift action by Congress, state departments of transportation will begin to have cash flow problems that could delay payments to vendors and slow projects.  Without action by the fall, new projects may have to be shelved until Congress can resolve the ...

On Wednesday, March 5, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Special Panel on Public-Private Partnerships held a hearing entitled "Overview of Public-Private Partnerships for Highway and Transit Projects" to review the role of P3s in delivery of highway and transit projects. The witness list and links to their testimony are as follows:

Mr. Joseph Kile, Assistant Director for Microeconomic Studies, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Written Testimony

Mr. James M. Bass, Interim Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, Texas Department of Transportation Written ...

On March 4, 2014, the City of Indianapolis announced that three development teams have been short-listed to compete to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a new Marion County Consolidated Justice Facility.  Replacing existing facilities, the proposed new facility will consolidate various aging and inefficient facilities throughout the county, and may house separate adult and juvenile detention, inmate processing, the prosecutor, public defender, probation and community corrections, clerk, coroner, crime lab and other state and federal agencies.  The new complex ...

On Tuesday, March 4th federal officials recommended the Maryland Transit Administration’s Purple Line Public-Private Partnership Project ("Purple Line") to receive $100 million in federal construction money as part of the Obama Administration’s 2015 fiscal year budget. The Federal Transit Administration recommended the Purple Line as one of seven large transit projects in the nation to receive full funding grant agreements, which allow for a longer-term payment commitment by the federal government. The other six projects are the Westside Subway Expansion – Section 1 ...

We report on the result of decisions by the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and the United States District Court for  the District of Hawaii that allow the construction of a 20-mile, $5 billion, rail transit project to proceed.  This project will transform the City of Honolulu, which now has some of the worst traffic  in the United States.  Nossaman was counsel to the City of Honolulu in the litigation.

These cases clarify important aspects of the alternative selection process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and section 4(f) of the Department of ...

On February 26, President Obama announced a proposal to fund a four year surface transportation bill that would increase spending by 22% for highways and 70% for transit over current levels.  The White House provided a Fact Sheet that outlines to proposal.   The current law, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) expires at the end of September.  That means that a new bill or an extension must be agreed to by both Houses of Congress by that time.  The President's envisions a $302 billion four year bill that builds on the substantive provisions of MAP-21.  More ...

In a move that should make successor agencies to redevelopment agencies happy, a new law was passed and approved by the Governor on February 18, 2014 (AB 471) that, among other things, amends Section 53395.4 of the California Government Code to allow infrastructure financing districts to finance a project or portion of a project located within a redevelopment project area or former redevelopment project area.

Infrastructure financing district law now provides a mechanism to finance projects that would have otherwise been financed by redevelopment agencies but for their ...

On July 6, 2012 President Obama signed into law MAP-21, which, among other things, contained new National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") requirements for the Federal Transit Administration ("FTA") and Federal Highway Administration ("FHWA").  In January 2014, pursuant to a mandate in MAP-21, FTA and FHWA adopted new regulations, which became effective this week on February 12, governing the implementation of two new categorical exclusions. The two new categorical exclusions apply to (1) projects within an existing right-of-way, and (2) projects receiving limited Federal ...

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) announced yesterday that it has received four Technical Proposals in response to its Request for Proposals for the I-4 Ultimate Project. On June 5, 2013, FDOT announced a shortlist of four proposers, all of whom submitted proposals seeking the contract to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the project.

The estimated $2 billion project, which will be developed through a public-private partnership concession agreement, includes the reconstruction of 21 miles of I-4 in the metro Orlando area. The project adds four tolled ...

Yesterday the Arizona Department of Transportation issued to the P3 and design-build industry a Request for Information for the South Mountain Freeway project. ADOT is seeking perspective and feedback from lead developers, design-build contractors, maintenance contractors, and equity investors on a list of questions, and is providing an opportunity for industry input on the overall procurement process for the project.

Responses are requested by February 25. ADOT will convene and open industry forum on the project at the ADOT auditorium on February 27, and the industry has ...