Infra Insight Blog

Some recent events, taken together, provide evidence that policy-makers in the United States are growing more comfortable with public-private partnerships as a vehicle for project delivery, in particular with respect to the nation’s decaying infrastructure and bridging the resultant financing challenges.

Following President Obama’s Build America Investment Initiative early this summer, the U.S. Department of Transportation established the Build America Transportation Investment Center (or BATIC) that would, among other things, enable non-federal but still ...

A crucial highway improvement for the growing Phoenix region reached an important milestone November 2 when the Arizona Department of Transportation received proposals from all three short-listed teams vying to develop the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway Project.  The three multidiscipline teams are identified in our March 2015 blog.

This $1.9 billion megaproject includes the design, construction and 30-year maintenance of the last section of the Loop 202 Freeway – a route which will stretch 22 miles from the Maricopa Freeway segment of I-10 to the Papago Freeway segment of I-10 ...

In a number of recent conversations regarding using Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) to deliver large infrastructure projects under an availability payment structure, I’ve heard a lot of angst by public owners over the cost of private finance and that AP’s may be viewed as debt by the rating agencies.  It’s true the rating agencies have indicated that AP’s can be considered debt for purposes of assessing an agency’s debt capacity but that’s only one aspect of the delivery method to consider.

S&P has issued several reports/FAQs regarding P3’s in the last couple of ...

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 ...

California has long been a transportation innovator, whether battery powered cars, high speed rail or the home of the first managed lanes facility in the United States—the SR91 Express Lanes.  The SR91 Express Lanes opened in 1995; the 10 mile project with two managed lanes in each direction connecting Orange County and Riverside County was originally developed as a P3 toll concession and acquired in 2003 by the Orange County Transportation Authority (and also featured the first fully electronic toll collection system in the world).  Additional managed lanes projects have been ...

This is the second of two posts about the recent Infrastructure Ontario 2015 Track Record Report.

As mentioned in the earlier post about Infrastructure Ontario’s 2015 Track Record Report, 98% of the infrastructure projects procured through the agency’s Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP) program have been delivered on budget.

The report considers a project on budget if its final project cost (awarded contract amount plus utilized post contract contingency) was less than or equal to the awarded contract amount plus the budgeted post contract contingency set at ...

This is the first of two posts about the recent Infrastructure Ontario 2015 Track Record Report.

As the public-private partnership (P3) market in the United States continues to grow, U.S. agencies that are considering the use of P3s to deliver their infrastructure projects have often expressed a desire for more research related to this innovative delivery model.  Last week, Infrastructure Ontario, the agency tasked with delivering the Province of Ontario’s largest and most complex infrastructure projects, released its 2015 Track Record Report.

For the past three years ...

On September 28, 2015, the Texas Department of Transportation and Flatiron/Dragados, LLC  (Developer) entered into a comprehensive development agreement (Agreement) for the Harbor Bridge Replacement Project in Corpus Christi (the Project).  The new Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge will allow larger ships to deliver their cargo to the Port of Corpus Christi, serving as an economic catalyst for the region and the State of Texas.  The current bridge was built in the late 1950s. Plans for a replacement bridge to improve safety have been in the works for more than a decade.  The proposed $800 ...

An Amtrak Blue Ribbon Panel formed in 2014 that included Nossaman partner Linda Morgan has released a report recommending how to fix the congestion plaguing Chicago’s rail network. As the hub of the U.S. rail network, the gridlock in Chicago has ripple effects throughout the nation.

As part of its year-long investigation of the causes and potential solutions to Chicago’s gridlock, the panel met with nearly 100 stakeholders and rail experts. The panel’s report resulting from these efforts includes the following recommendations:

• Ensure real-time coordination among ...

Expected to dramatically improve mobility in one of the more highly congested regions in Southern California, the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority (Authority) completed the Foothill Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa on September 23, 2015.  After achieving this milestone, the Authority turned the project over to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) to complete testing and training and then operate the project.  Metro expects to announce a start date for passenger service within 30 days of turnover, and anticipates ...