Infra Insight Blog

AASHTO, through its Center for Excellence in Project Finance, has released its final report on strategies for funding and financing surface transportation for the next decade. The report, Funding and Financing Solutions for Surface Transportation in the Coming Decade,is available for download via AASHTO’s website at the following address:

http://www.transportation-finance.org/pdf/featured_documents/sep_30_report_final_2011_02_02.pdf

In September 2010, AASHTO convened a forum of members of Congress, representatives of state and local governments, and ...

FHWA has extended the deadline for FY2011 TIFIA Letters of Interest (LOI) to March 1, 2011. The previous Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), issued on January 19, had allowed less than a month for interested applicants to prepare and submit LOIs.

The January 25 revised NOFA included a new phrase addressing the role of tolling and pricing programs in enhancing environmental sustainability. Under the revised selection criteria, applicants can demonstrate that their projects help preserve and protect the environment through the use of tolling or pricing structures to reduce ...

The California Department of Transportation started off the New Year with a significant step in its public-private partnership program.  After an Alameda County Superior Court judge dissolved a temporary restraining order and denied a preliminary injunction sought by Professional Engineers in California Government, the California Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, awarded the contract for the Presidio Parkway Project to Golden Link Concessionaire, LLC, a consortium led by Hochtief PPP Solutions North ...

Continuing a string of awards recognizing its groundbreaking financial structure, The Bond Buyer named the Port of Miami Tunnel Project the 2010 Deal of the Year in the nontraditional financing category.  The ninth annual black tie event, held in New York City on Dec. 9, recognized some of the country’s most innovative municipal bond issuers for transactions in a range of sectors, including transportation, schools, water and sewer systems, wind, and public pensions.  The publication considered nearly 80 deals that closed between Oct. 1, 2009, and Sept. 30, 2010.

The $1 billion Port ...

This morning, members of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission and National Transportation Policy Project of the Bipartisan Policy Center released a joint statement urging Congress to take steps toward several transportation policy principles designed to help guide deliberations over how to extend, fund and improve the federal surface transportation program in the face of dire fiscal realities. Some of the key proposals include the call for Congress to incentivize and remove barriers to increased state and local revenues from direct user ...

On Wednesday, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) approved the $950 million Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project for one of 10 state project slots available under California’s Design-Build Demonstration Program. 

The CTC’s approval authorizes the Port of Long Beach and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to deliver the project using the best-value design-build method contemplated under the program.  The Port of Long Beach and Caltrans released the request for qualifications (RFQ) for the project’s design-build contract on ...

AASHTO recently sponsored a Congressional Forum on funding and financing surface transportation in the coming decade.  Academic co-sponsors were America 2050 at the Regional Plan Association; Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania; Georgia Institute of Technology; Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota; Keston Institute of Infrastructure and Public; Finance at the University of Southern California.

Over 25 staff members of Senate and House committees participated.  John Horsley, Executive Director of AASHTO, made one of the ...

Earlier this week USDOT Secretary LaHood announced the winners of the highly competitive TIGER II grant application cycle. Forty-two capital construction projects and 33 planning projects in 40 states will share nearly $600 million in grant funds.

According to the announcement, USDOT received nearly 1,000 construction grant applications for more than $19 billion from all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.  Roughly 29 percent of TIGER II money goes for road projects, 26 percent for transit, 20 percent for rail projects, 16 percent for ports, four percent ...

A short six months after shortlisting proposers, the California Department of Transportation and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority selected Golden Link Partners, a consortium led by Hochtief PPP Solutions North America and Meridiam Infrastructure North America, as the Preferred Proposer for Presidio Parkway Project.  Golden Link Partners submitted an annual availability payment of $28,549,189, well within the $35 million limit authorized by the California Transportation Commission in April 2010.  This significant event in the procurement follows closely ...

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) recently published a progress report (PDF) presenting its ambitious vision for the congressionally-mandated National Rail Plan (NRP).  The NRP is being developed as part of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008.  The progress report builds upon the Preliminary National Rail Plan (PDF) submitted to Congress last year.  When completed, the NRP is expected to present a framework for improving our transportation network for future generations.

The progress report emphasizes the importance of efficient and effective ...