Infra Insight Blog

In his Infra Insight Blog post on April 15, Fred Kessler reported on how the budgets for state departments of transportation, which rely heavily on federal and state fuel tax revenues, are suffering due to reduced traffic volume caused by the COVID-19 “stay at home” directives issued by state and local governments.  Nevertheless, with limited exceptions, transportation agencies and the construction industry are allowed to perform road work and some transportation agencies have expedited the delivery of highway projects. ...

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 ...

Last month, the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) formally unveiled its Build America Transportation Investment Center (BATIC). BATIC’s mission is to:

• Expand the use of federal transportation credit programs;

• Innovate new approaches to project development processes and funding challenges and institutionalize technology and best practice across credit programs and modal teams; and

• Deliver streamlined technical and financial assistance to accelerate project delivery

BATIC is intended to serve as a single point of contact for project sponsors to obtain ...

North Carolina, acting through the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), reached a major milestone on May 20, 2015 when financial close was achieved on the I-77 Express Lanes Project – the first highway public-private partnership in the state.  The project, with a design and construction cost estimated at approximately $591 million, will add 26 miles of tolled, express lanes along the existing I-77 corridor in the Charlotte region.  The financing package includes $100 million of private activity bonds and a $189 million TIFIA loan from the U.S. Department of ...

On March 31, 2015, Congressman John K. Delaney (D-MD) spoke at the Washington Briefing of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBBTA) in Washington, DC. At the event, Congressman Delaney provided an update on a bipartisan bill he has sponsored known as The Infrastructure 2.0 Act to fund the federal highway program. The bill uses international corporate tax reform to provide a six-year funding source for the Highway Trust Fund. Specifically, the bill establishes a mandatory, one-time 8.75% tax on existing overseas profits accumulated by U.S. multi-national ...

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has announced that it will hold its annual Public-Private Partnerships in Transportation Conference on July 15-17, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Washington in Washington, DC.  This year’s conference, entitled P3s in Transition: The Next Chapter, will again feature a P3 owners-only meeting and interactive sessions, including the continuation of the Great Debate series exploring whether unsolicited proposals add value to P3s.

ARTBA’s annual conference is the nation’s premier and longest-standing event for ...

On December 9, the DC Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) held its annual holiday party and awards ceremony at the Goethe-Institut in Washington, DC.  Attending the event was U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx who received the Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award for his advocacy of the White House’s Ladders of Opportunity initiative.  In accepting the award, Secretary Foxx emphasized the importance of infrastructure to connect communities together and improve the quality of life for all Americans.

Receiving the first Man of the Year Award ...

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 ...

The Maryland Department of Transportation and Maryland Transit Administration (MDOT/ MTA) announced on December 11, 2013 that six private-sector teams responded to a Request for Qualifications to design, build, construct, finance, operate and maintain the Purple Line project.  The list of proposer teams is included in the joint press release.

The 16-mile light rail line, which will be constructed under Maryland’s newly adopted Public-Private Partnership law, runs between Bethesda in Montgomery County, Maryland and New Carrollton in Prince George’s County, Maryland.  ...

Before departing Washington, DC for the traditional August Congressional recess, Congressmen Mike Rogers (R-AL-3) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11) announced that they are forming the Congressional Caucus on Public-Private Partnerships, or the Congressional P3 Caucus.  In the press release announcing the caucus, Rogers says that he hopes the group will help raise awareness of infrastructure issues and examine public-private partnerships across the country.  Congressional caucuses are formed by Members seeking to work collectively on issues, usually with the goal of increasing ...

On July 26, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) held its awards dinner for the 25th Annual P3s in Transportation Conference.   Each year during this dinner, the ARTBA P3 Division honors projects that exemplify the value of P3s in the United States and also recognizes two individuals, one public sector and one private sector, for their exemplary contributions to the development, growth and public education of P3s.  

This year, the Ohio River Bridges – East End Crossing and its public and private participants swept the awards dinner.  The project won Project ...

On July 23, the Georgia State Transportation Board (STB) voted to accept the selection of Northwest Express Roadbuilders (NWER) as the apparent best value proposer for the $840 million Northwest Corridor managed lanes P3 project located in Cobb and Cherokee Counties.  The project is the largest transportation infrastructure project in the history of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).  It includes two reversible tolled managed lanes along the west side of I-75 between its interchanges with I-285 and I-575.  Also, above the I-575 interchange, one reversible tolled ...

After achieving several P3 project milestones and awards in 2012, Virginia’s Office of Transportation Public-Private Partnerships (OTP3) on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia released a draft document entitled 2013 Virginia PPTA Project Pipeline for public comment.  The document identified the following 10 projects as potential P3 projects to be procured under Virginia’s Public-Private Transportation Act:

• I-66 Corridor Improvements
• Air Rights Development
• I-64 HOV to HOT Lane Conversion
• I-64 Peninsula Improvements
• Hampton Roads Crossing Improvements
• I-73 ...

This year, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) will be holding its 25th Annual Public-Private Partnership conference on July 24-26 in Washington, D.C.  To commemorate the silver anniversary of the conference, ARTBA has announced that a special cocktail reception and gala dinner will be held at the Smithsonian Museum of American History on the evening of July 25. 

Attendees will have exclusive access to the ARTBA-sponsored America on the Move exhibition currently on display at the museum.  The exhibition explores the role of transportation in American ...

On March 7, Project Finance Magazine held its annual Project Finance Americas Deals of the Year awards dinner in New York City.  The awards – which started 14 years ago – are for innovation, deal repeatability, best practice, problem solving, value for money and speed of delivery in the financing of infrastructure projects.  Two public-private partnership projects – one on the East coast and one on the West coast – received honors at this year’s dinner.     

The award for 2012 North America Toll Road Deal of the Year was given to the Midtown Tunnel project located in the Hampton Roads ...

A key element of a successful P3 program is an effective and comprehensive public outreach strategy.  Demonstrating why Virginia remains a leader in closing P3 transportation deals, the Virginia Office of Transportation Public-Private Partnerships (OTP3) recently prepared a variety of fact sheets, presentations and FAQs focusing on different aspects of P3s in Virginia.  The materials can be found at the OTP3 website.

These materials were prepared in cooperation with the Public Private Transportation Act Working Group.  This group was established in June 2012 to solicit ideas and ...

On October 11, Nick Nicholson, Deputy Director and Chief Engineer of the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) Infrastructure Project Management Administration, participated in a panel session at the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) Annual Public-Private Partnerships in Transportation Conference in Washington, D.C.  Mr. Nicholson told conference attendees that DDOT is actively looking at public-private partnerships to deliver several projects in the District of Columbia.  Although the District does not have dedicated P3 ...

The Virginia Department of Transportation and Elizabeth River Crossings Opco LLC (ERC) reached financial close on a toll concession public-private partnership ("PPP") for the $2.1 billion Midtown Tunnel Project.  It is the first United States transportation PPP to reach financial close in 2012 and will include construction of a new Midtown Tunnel, rehabilitating the existing Midtown and Downtown Tunnels, extending Martin Luther King Boulevard and will provide much needed transportation improvements and congestion relief to motorists in the Hampton Roads region.  ...

On March 30, 2012, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)  shortlisted four teams for its I-77 HOT Lanes Project located in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg area.

The I-77 HOT Lanes Project is the first road transportation infrastructure project under a pubic-private partnership (P3) delivery model in North Carolina and will set the precedent for the use of P3s to implement HOT lanes projects in the state.  NCDOT anticipates that partnership with the private sector, and the innovative funding strategies that private sector funding brings, will more quickly and more ...

On Feb. 15, 2012, the North Carolina Department of Transportation advertised a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the I-77 HOT Lanes Project located in the Charlotte-Mecklunberg area.  The RFQ seeks interested teams to submit their Statement of Qualifications to develop, design, build, finance, operate, and maintain HOT lanes along the I-77 corridor through a public-private partnership.  The project will involve the conversion of existing HOV lanes to HOT lanes, and the extension of HOT lanes along the I-77 corridor.

An industry forum is scheduled for Feb. 23, 2012 in Charlotte ...

On October 21, I participated on a panel regarding Successful Teaming at the 2011 DBIA Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla.  In the broad sense, teaming in the design-build context is collaboration among all project participants to help foster integration and achieve win-win solutions for delivering a project.  The panel addressed best practices for drafting teaming agreements and promoting communication and integration among team members.  My presentation focused on why the owner is interested in teaming and how the owner can influence teaming arrangements.  Key takeaways from the ...

On Sept. 19, 2011, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) sent a press release announcing that GDOT issued the final Request for Proposal (RFP) for the West by Northwest Project.  The RFP was provided to three short-listed proposers, comprised of several national and international developers and contractors.  Brandon Beach, P3 Committee Chair of the State Transportation Board, viewed the issuance of the RFP as further evidence that GDOT’s P3 program is vibrant and continuing to make huge strides in coordinating these mega-projects with our partner agencies.

Responses ...

On July 19, 2011, the Georgia Department of Transportation issued a press release stating that GDOT was invited to apply for a TIFIA loan in the amount of $270 million for the Northwest Corridor Project – a project to add managed lanes along I-75 and I-575 in the metro Atlanta region with approximately $968 million in capital costs.  The press release followed an announcement by Governor Nathan Deal that the procurement of the Northwest Corridor Project will proceed to the next phase through the issuance of a final Request for Proposals.  Three consortia – consisting of major national ...

During a July 20, 2011 presentation before the Commonwealth Transportation Board, the Virginia Department of Transportation reported that VDOT reached agreement on major business terms with Elizabeth River Crossings LLC for the design, construction, financing, operations and maintenance of the Midtown Tunnel Project in the Portsmouth and Norfolk area.  As a result of this major milestone, VDOT is targeting to reach financial close on the Midtown Tunnel Project by the end of 2011.  

The Midtown Tunnel Project will involve the construction of a new two-lane tunnel under the ...

The Florida Department of Transportation’s I-595 project and its public and private partners won several awards at this year’s American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) P3 conference. It’s pretty much a Florida sweep, declared Pamela Bailey-Campbell, ARTBA Public Private Ventures Division president, as she announced the recipients of the Project, Public Sector Entrepreneur, and Private Sector Entrepreneur of 2009.

Bailey-Campbell announced three awards at the September 25 award luncheon in Washington D.C. The I-595 project in Fort Lauderdale ...