Infra Insight Blog

Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) and LA Gateway Partners (LAGP) have reached commercial close on the design-build-finance-operate-maintain (DBFOM) agreement for the consolidated rent-a-car facility (ConRAC) at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). In reaching this milestone, LAWA’s ConRAC project becomes the first public-private partnership for a ConRAC facility in the United States. LAGP will now proceed to close the financing for the project, which is expected to occur in December. The financing structure will be a private placement.

Leading up to commercial ...

The State of Delaware and a subsidiary of Gulftainer Company Limited (Gulftainer) have finalized a concession agreement for the operation and further development of the 100-year-old Port of Wilmington (Port).

While the concession agreement signed on September 18, 2018 is not publicly available, it is expected, based on deal terms described in Port documents submitted in support of approval of the P3 transaction,[1] that the agreement grants Gulftainer exclusive rights to manage the Port for a 50-year term. In return, Gulftainer agrees to invest up to $584M in the Port in the first ...

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has posted notice of an opening for a position as Manager, Innovation in its Office of Extraordinary Innovation.

The job responsibilities will include:

• Managing and facilitating evaluation of unsolicited proposals submitted to the OEI

• Managing OEI’s P3 advisors

• Managing pre-procurement activities for P3 projects such as project screenings, qualitative and quantitative assessment and value for money analyses ...

The Port of Vancouver USA and its rail partners BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad have substantially completed a $251M railroad access improvement project which significantly increases rail access in the port. The project creates a new rail entrance to the port, increases the port’s internal track miles from 16 to more than 50 (including a new loop track at the port’s Terminal 5 facilitating unit train transport) and increases rail capacity on BNSF and UPRR lines outside the port.  According to port CEO Juliana Marler, the project reduces rail congestion on the mainline and ...

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has released its latest Positive Train Control (PTC) implementation progress report for the 2nd quarter of 2018. The FRA’s latest report indicates that railroads are making steady progress toward PTC compliance.

FRA says that 15 railroads have installed 100% and 12 railroads have installed between 95 and 99% of the mandated PTC system hardware. In addition, all but one railroad has acquired sufficient spectrum required for PTC Implementation.

FRA states that railroad implementation of PTC has improved since December 2016, where ...

Last week FRA issued a notice of grant funding of $318 million for rail infrastructure and safety improvements through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement Grants Program known as CRISI. The deadline for applications is September 17, 2018.

CRISI grants are designed to assist with financing passenger and freight rail system improvements to achieve safety, efficiency, and reliability benefits. Eligible applicants include states, public agencies, Amtrak, and Class II and Class III rail carriers and railroad or equipment manufacturer working with ...

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently penned a Dear Colleague letter regarding the Agency’s implementation of the Capital Investment Grants Program, stating that FTA will consider federal loans or financing tools in the context of all federal funding sources for a project, implying that such financing assistance will be calculated as part of a transit project’s federal share. Other modal agencies consider federal loan programs, such as TIFIA or RRIF, to be part of a project’s non-federal share.[1]

The letter has caused a significant amount of discussion in the ...

Sponsors of critical maritime transportation projects received welcome news this week, as the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for America’s Marine Highway Projects. This notice makes available roughly $7 million in recently-appropriated funds for the Short Sea Transportation Program (46 U.S.C. § 55601), commonly referred to as America’s Marine Highway Program (AMHP).

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) is in charge of this important, but perhaps not well-known, program:  The America’s Marine Highway ...

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) recently released its State of Freight III – Rail Access and Port Multimodal Funding Needs Report.  For its report, AAPA surveyed its members to determine what aspects of rail infrastructure ports most need.

We thought it would be informative to talk with John Young, AAPA’s Director of Freight & Surface Transportation's Policy, about the survey results and the report.

Nossaman:

John, thank you for taking the time to speak with us.  Can you please tell us a little bit about the AAPA?

John Young:

AAPA represents 130 public port ...

A joint venture lead by Capital Development Partners, an industrial real estate and infrastructure development company, has begun construction on a $125 million logistics campus at the Port of Savannah in Georgia, known as the Savannah Port Logistics Center.

The 197-acre industrial campus will offer dual rail service by Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation. The site also will offer transload capability and more than 2,000 container storage positions, according to a Capital Development Parners press release.

The first building to be constructed as part of ...