Infra Insight Blog

The UC Merced 2020 Project was a big winner at P3 Bulletin’s annual P3 Awards ceremony held in Washington D.C. last month, claiming the Gold Award for Best Social Infrastructure Project, along with the Silver Award in the Government Agency of the Year category. The award comes approximately one year after the historic groundbreaking on the project, which is currently under construction.

The project consists of the comprehensive development, design, construction, financing, operations, and maintenance of academic, administrative, research, recreational, student ...

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) District kicked off passenger rail revenue service in Sonoma and Marin counties last week. The 43-mile rail line includes ten stations from the Sonoma County Airport to Downtown San Rafael.

The new service operates across former Northwestern Pacific Railway Co. (NWP) rail line. Acquisition of the rail line dates back to 1969 when the California Legislature directed the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District to develop a transportation facilities plan. In its plan, the district recommended the preservation of ...

In the early hours of August 15, 2017, the Denver City Council approved a $1.8 billion development agreement between the City and County of Denver’s Department of Aviation and Denver Great Hall, LLC, a consortium led by Madrid-based Ferrovial, for the Great Hall Project. The City Council’s approval follows a 12-month predevelopment and negotiation phase and represents an opportunity for the airport to leverage the expertise of the Ferrovial-led team to relocate and modernize its security screening facilities and revitalize and expand concessions offerings within the ...

As part of an effort to facilitate the use of public-private partnerships (P3s) in public transportation capital projects, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued on Monday a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that aims to streamline the project approval process.

Under the proposed Private Investment Project Procedures (PIPP) set forth in the NPRM, recipients of Federal funding for public transportation projects would be able to request a modification or waiver of specific FTA requirements if the recipient demonstrates that those requirements discourage the use of ...

Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) released the Final Request for Proposals (Final RFP) for the procurement of the elevated 2.25-mile Automated People Mover train (APM) at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on July 28, 2017. The Final RFP was provided to the three short-listed Proposer teams participating in the APM procurement.

The project is the first APM system to be procured through an availability payment public private partnership (P3) delivery model.  The selected Proposer will design, build and partially finance the APM system, and then will operate and maintain the ...

SH 130 Concession Company, the private entity that operates and maintains the 41-mile southern section of State Highway 130, has emerged from Chapter 11 protection with new ownership, new senior management and $260 million in new financing. The financial reorganization has removed $1.4 billion in debt from the balance sheet of SH 130 Concession Company and will significantly improve the liquidity of the business.

SH 130 Concession Co. operates and maintains Segments 5 & 6 of SH 130 from Mustang Ridge to Seguin, Texas. The road is owned by the Texas Department of Transportation, which ...

In Florida, All Aboard Florida, a private entity, is about to launch passenger rail service from Miami to West Palm Beach, with future service extending to Orlando. In California, the California High-Speed Rail Authority is currently constructing a high-speed passenger rail line with the long-term goal of connecting the metro areas of San Francisco and the Los Angeles.  These projects have a common denominator: each envisions intercity passenger rail service entirely within one state.  But when it comes to economic regulation by the federal government, these projects are treated ...

President Trump kicked off infrastructure week on Monday, June 5^th, by proposing to corporatize the U.S. air traffic control system, shifting about 35,000 workers, including unionized traffic controllers, technicians, and others, off of the government payroll, and removing the Federal Aviation Administration from its role operating the business that it regulates.  It’s an idea that has been in the national discourse since at least the 1980’s, and is supported by the major U.S. airlines and other key industry players, including the union representing air traffic ...

Among other policy initiatives, the Trump Administration has advocated for the need to improve the nation’s infrastructure in order to maintain America’s economic competitiveness. In its recently released 2018 proposed budget, the Administration included $200 billion in outlays related to its infrastructure initiatives.  The Administration’s budget also focuses on leveraging private sector involvement as part of the overall solution to reform and change how infrastructure projects are regulated, funded, delivered and maintained.

There have been reports that one ...

On Tuesday, May 16, 2017 the Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure will hold a hearing titled Leveraging Federal Funding; Innovative Solutions for Infrastructure.

The stated purpose of the hearing is for Senators to examine the need for more public sector funding and private sector financing in the Federal Highway Program.  To this end, the Subcommittee has scheduled the following individuals to testify on this topic:

• Eric Garcetti (Mayor, City of Los Angeles; Chair of U.S. Conference of Mayors Infrastructure ...