Infra Insight Blog

The House has passed a new bill (H.R. 3617) which extends federal highway and transit programs set to lapse at the end of September, when SAFETEA-LU expires, through the end of the calendar year.

Yesterday, House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Jim Oberstar introduced the bill under an expedited process which waives committee approval and prevents amendment.  The bill does not address the $8.7 billion rescission required under SAFETEA-LU, which will force FHWA to cancel program funding apportioned under SAFETEA-LU (as amended by the EISA) on September 30.

The ...

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) division has weighed in on road user fees based on vehicle miles traveled or VMT. Their latest report Implementable Strategies for Shifting to Direct Usage-Based Charges for Transportation Funding responds to VMT’s critics who say the transportation funding method would be too challenging and require a lengthy implementation period. The report outlines strategies for shifting to direct user-based charges for transportation funding, focusing on incremental VMT mechanisms which can be fully implemented in the ...

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has endorsed USDOT’s policy of allocating Highway Trust Fund (HTF) apportionments based on total lane miles in each state – including miles of highway built, operated or maintained through public private partnerships (PPPs).

Each state’s share of the nation’s highway system (quantified as lane miles) has factored in federal aid allocations since 1976, though initially this measure excluded tolled facilities. In 1998, Congress greatly expanded the use of the lane mile funding formula with TEA-21, and eliminated the ...

Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) officials executed a comprehensive development agreement (CDA) with the LBJ Infrastructure Group to design, construct, finance, operate and maintain the 13-mile LBJ-635 corridor in Dallas County. Following the North Tarrant Express (June 2009), the LBJ-635 is TxDOT’s second toll concession to reach commercial close this year.

Construction is expected to begin by mid-2011 and open to traffic in late 2016. Motorists will have a choice of either using the managed toll lanes or remaining on the improved and rebuilt free main ...

In addition to the recent passage of comprehensive P3 legislation in Arizona and California, the newly created Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has also been authorized to utilize public private partnerships for transportation projects. Provisions for design-build-operate-maintain (DBOM) and design-build-finance-operate-maintain (DBFOM) procurements are included in Senate Bill 2087, commonly known as the "Transportation Reform Act," under which MassDOT was formed. Under the Act, P3’s may be used for a new or existing highway, road ...

The Mississippi Transportation Commission has suspended the procurement for the Airport Parkway P3 project, citing the ongoing credit crisis and resulting pressures on revenue projections and senior debt credit ratings.

The Airport Parkway project, the first public-private partnership and first toll road project advanced in Mississippi, includes the development of a new 12-mile toll road and several bridges in the Jackson metropolitan area.  In August 2008, Mississippi DOT shortlisted three teams vying for the 50-year concession: ACS/Dragados, Cintra/Ferrovial, and ...

It isn’t often that infrastructure makes the Arts pages of the Los Angeles Times.  So the recent publication of glamorous renderings of transit projects that transcend typical configurations of concrete and steel may herald a new golden age for rail and transit.

HOK's award-winning design for Orange County Transportation Authority’s Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center radically transforms the traditional concept of art in transit into transit as art; the designers employ a train station and transit hub as the medium to create an iconic visual ...

Arizona has passed comprehensive P3 legislation on the heels of the passage of similar legislation in California.  Last month, Governor Jan Brewer signed House Bill 2396 which both updates Arizona’s existing toll road development and operations laws and gives the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) broad authority to develop and operate a range of transportation projects through a variety of delivery methods.

Under House Bill 2396  ADOT is authorized to use virtually  any innovative delivery method, including P3s.  Facilities eligible in the bill include: new or ...

Arlington County is seeking to delay (or possibly derail) a project designed to ease congestion and add new lanes to Northern Virginia’s clogged 95/395 corridor.  Arlington has challenged the Categorical Exclusion (CE) granted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which allowed the project to move forward without a full environmental analysis.

Arlington is concerned that the new lanes will increase congestion throughout the corridor, and lengthen travel times, especially for transit.  Buses, carpools (HOV-3), motorcycles and emergency vehicles will have free ...

New subway safety standards may be coming soon to a city near you.  The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has assembled a team of transportation safety experts to explore rail transit (subway, light rail, and commuter rail) safety reforms, which may extend to bus operations.

FTA is currently prohibited by law from establishing national safety standards, requiring Federal inspections, or requiring specific operating practices, but that may soon change.  In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff condemned several recent ...