Infra Insight Blog

The Texas Transportation Commission selected the apparent best value proposer for the design, construction and long-term capital maintenance of the Grand Parkway project, a 37-mile, greenfield toll road in Houston. The high-priority project awarded on Thursday consists of Segments F-1, F-2 and G of the Grand Parkway, part of a proposed 184-mile highway, encircling the Houston area. A few of the other, smaller segments of the Grand Parkway are being developed using traditional construction contracts. Segments D and E are currently under construction and Segment I-2 is already ...

On September 24 the Federal Highway Administration issued policy guidance on various aspects of MAP-21, including a memorandum to its Division Administrators on the tolling provisions in MAP-21 and questions and answers on federal tolling laws.

The tolling guidance addresses (1) the complete replacement of the prior statutory language of 23 U.S.C. 129(a), (2) the application of the existing HOV/HOT lane provisions in 23 U.SC 166, and (3) the status of the four existing toll pilot programs.  It is a must-read for anyone concerned with federal tolling law and policy.

Sections 129 and ...

Last night the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, responsible for development of the $750 million Knik Arm Crossing project in the Anchorage, Alaska region, filed a letter of interest with the USDOT for TIFIA credit assistance.  It is one of the first, if not the first, letters of interest filed under the USDOT’s July 27 Notice of Funding Availability implementing the MAP-21 amendments to TIFIA.

KABATA filed a letter of interest in November 2011 for a $308 million TIFIA loan.  With the changes in MAP-21 authorizing TIFIA credit assistance up to 49% of eligible project costs and ...

The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) contains meaningful reforms that collectively represent a significant improvement in federal surface transportation law.  For the most part, federal law directly on the subject of public-private partnerships saw little change of significance.  Other federal laws, though not directly addressing PPPs, also affect the viability as a project financing mechanism.  Changes to the TIFIA program and to federal tolling law that will markedly improve project finance via public-private partnerships were addressed in our ...

MAP-21 contains meaningful reforms that collectively represent a significant improvement in federal surface transportation law. Join our panel, including key house staff members critical to MAP-21, for a 90-minute discussion on selected aspects of the Act and listen as they address the effects it will have on the transportation industry.

Congress recently passed MAP-21 and under prior law, with few exceptions, tolling was prohibited on Interstate highways and many other federal-aid highways. The bill expands the exceptions, in recognition of the fact that federal fuel tax revenues are stagnant and new revenue sources are imperative to meet the growing funding gap in surface transportation.

MAP-21, a measure to reauthorize transportation funding through the end of 2014, is the product of a robust effort by transportation advocates to streamline the lengthy, complex, and cumbersome federal environmental process.