Infra Insight Blog

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 ...

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has shortlisted five design-build teams in response to its first design-build project for the first segment of the California High-Speed Train System in California's Central Valley. 

The shortlisted teams are: 

• California Backbone Builders, composed of Ferrovial Agroman and Acciona
• California High-Speed Rail Partners, composed of Fluor Corp., Skanska and PCL Constructors
• California High-Speed Ventures, composed of Kiewit Corp., Granite Construction and Comsa EMTE
• Dragados SA, Flatiron Construction Corp. and Shimmick ...

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has authorized the City and County of Honolulu to begin construction of a 20-mile, $5 billion rail transit project.  The FTA Letter of No Prejudice allows the City to begin up to $184.7 million in construction and other activities on the project, including the first sections of raised guideways from East Kopolei to Pearl Highlands.  The 20-mile rail project will extend from Kapolei to Ala Moana Center in downtown Honolulu and includes a station at the Honolulu International Airport. 

Hawaii state courts have rejected state law challenges to the ...

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced a much-anticipated fourth round of funding for USDOT’s popular TIGER Discretionary Grants program, totalling $500 million for capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure.

Pre-applications must be submitted by Feb. 20, 2012 and final applications must be submitted by March 19, 2012.  Previous rounds of competitive TIGER grants were heavily over-subscribed.  The last round attracted 848 applications with funding requests for $14.29 billion, while USDOT awarded funds in December 2011 for 46 capital ...

On January 23, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) soliciting qualifications from private developers interested in entering into a design-build contract and capital maintenance agreement and/or a toll concession agreement for the IH 35E Managed Lanes Project. The RFQ provides prospective developers the opportunity to submit qualifications for one or both of the two public-private partnership (P3) methods. Qualification submittals for the project are due March 23, 2012.   

IH 35E serves the rapidly growing areas of ...

On Nov. 3, 2011 the TIFIA Joint Program Office announced availability of limited funding for TIFIA credit assistance for fiscal year 2012 and invited submission of letters of interest (LOIs) by Dec. 30, 2011.  While we are aware of no official announcement, sources inform us that the TIFIA JPO received LOIs from 26 project sponsors seeking over $13 billion in credit assistance to finance almost $36 billion in new infrastructure investment.

This current interest continues a three-year trend in strong demand for TIFIA credit assistance, and, so far anyway, a limited amount of available ...

On Friday, Dec. 9, 2011, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed historic design-build legislation into law, giving five state entities - the New York State Department of Transportation, the New York State Thruway Authority, the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Bridge Authority - general authorization to enter into design-build contracts for capital projects for physical infrastructure.  Previously, only public universities had legislative authorization to use design-build. 

The ...

This morning, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Ray LaHood announced the winners of the extremely competitive TIGER III grant application cycle.  Forty-six projects in 33 states will share $511 million in grant funds.  The announcement was made several months earlier than the originally scheduled date.

As has been the case with the previous two rounds of TIGER grants, this cycle was wildly oversubscribed.  According to the announcement, USDOT received 848 project applications from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC, requesting a total of $14.29 ...

Statements of Qualifications for the California High-Speed Rail Authority's Initial Construction Section, Construction Package 1 (north of the San Joaquin River through the City of Fresno) are due Dec. 19, 2011, with contract award currently scheduled for December 2012. 

This is the first of five design-build procurement packages planned for the California High-Speed Rail Project. The Authority's procurement schedule is available here.  Comments on the Draft 2012 Business Plan, issued by the Authority last month, are due by the end of the year.  The Draft Business Plan ...

In advance of its deadline for statements of qualifications (SOQ),  the New York State Department of Transportation and the New York State Thruway Authority are holding a Pre-SOQ Informational Meeting for the Tappan Zee Hudson River Crossing Project.  The event will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 14, at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, NY.  Interested participants are required to pre-register for the event by completing an online registration form, available here.   The agenda includes presentations by the DOT and Authority, a question period, and a "meet-and-greet" ...