Infra Insight Blog

On April 18, 2016, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) reached an initial milestone in its Landside Access Modernization Program (LAMP) by issuing instructions for how automated people mover operating system suppliers can request a determination of their eligibility to participate in an upcoming procurement.

As part of an overall modernization program at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), LAWA is undertaking LAMP to alleviate congestion and provide better landside passenger movement around LAX.  The major elements of LAMP include a consolidated rental car center ...

Governor Pete Rickets followed through on a promise to rethink infrastructure delivery in Nebraska.  Signing LB 960, the Transportation Innovation Act, into law, Nebraska is poised to clear its backlog of highway development in the state.  The new law passed unanimously in mid-April.

The Transportation Innovation Act reserved $50 million of Nebraska’s cash reserve and allocated approximately $400 million of gas tax revenue to the end of completing a 132-mile portion of an envisioned 600 mile expressway system within the State by 2033.  New tools available to the Nebraska ...

For years, policymakers and economists around the country have been well aware that the federal gas tax is dying.

In its report to Congress, the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, on which I was honored to serve, made clear that we must replace the 18.4 cent federal gas tax with other means of funding transportation in order to maintain and improve our highways, bridges and transit systems in the United States.

The commission recommended a road user charge as the most effective approach to solving this problem.

[If] we fail to address the immediate ...

On April 6, 2016, the Maryland Board of Public Works unanimously approved the public-private partnership (P3) agreement for the Maryland Purple Line light-rail transit project, concluding the 30-day review period described in our previous blog.  The contract documents previously signed by the concessionaire have now been signed by the Maryland Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) Secretary Pete Rahn and the Maryland Transit Administration’s (MTA) Administrator, Paul Comfort.

At the Board of Public Works hearing, Comptroller Peter Franchot praised both the Governor ...

On Wednesday, March 30, 2016, Florida’s Governor Rick Scott signed two bills that further advance the state’s existing public-private partnership (P3) framework and provide additional guidance for implementing P3s. The two new laws will go into effect on July 1, 2016.

SB 124 amends the 2013 law that authorizes counties, municipalities, school boards, and other political subdivisions to use P3s for a wide range of facilities, including education facilities, transportation facilities, water/wastewater facilities, roads, highways and bridges, healthcare facilities ...

Drivers of the I-405 in Orange County California are one step closer to an improved facility.  Today the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) authorized release of a final request for proposals to design and construct the I-405 Improvement Project, the largest highway project in Southern California.  The project includes upgrading 16 miles of the I-405 between SR-73 in Costa Mesa and I-605 near the Los Angeles County line, adding a general purpose lane in each direction.  A new lane will also be added next to the current HOV lane between SR-73 and SR-22, and both lanes, in each ...

The Illinois Senate is currently reviewing a bill that would greatly expand the authority of public agencies in Illinois to enter into public-private partnership (P3) agreements.  To date, such authority has been limited to the Illinois DOT, the State Toll Highway Authority and, in limited circumstances, local governments.

Democratic Senator Heather Steans introduced the bill on February 19th.  Shortly thereafter, in a show a bi-partisan support, Republican Senator Karen McConnaughay became a chief co-sponsor of the bill.

The bill, known as the Public-Private Partnerships ...

The wait is nearly over: for those living on the Westside of Los Angeles, passenger rail transit will be available in just a few short months. Officials announced last month that the final extension of the Expo Line will open on May 20, extending service from Culver City to just a few blocks from the Santa Monica pier.

This will be the first passenger rail transit service to the far Westside since Pacific Electric streetcars stopped running to Santa Monica in 1953. The project completes the 15-mile Expo Line between downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Train trips between downtown Santa ...

New Mexico will now allow certain highway and projects funded in whole or in part by federal funds to use the design-build delivery method.  On the last day (March 9, 2016) to sign bills from the most recent legislative session, Governor Susana Martinez signed HB 206 , which permits the Department of Transportation to use the design-build delivery method for road and highway projects above $50 million.   Previously, road and highway projects were specifically prohibited from using design-build delivery unless part of a very limited number of demonstration projects.  Opening road and ...

On March 2, Governor Larry Hogan and Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Secretary Pete Rahn greenlighted procurement of the Purple Line by MDOT and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA). The contract has been posted and is scheduled for review by the Maryland Board of Public Works in early April.

Part of the region’s ambitious transit strategic plan, the Purple Line is a 16.2 mile, 21 station light rail line that provides additional mobility to the region. MTA estimates total daily ridership will be 69,000 per day by 2030 (74,000 by 2040). The new line will interface ...