Infra Insight Blog : written by Nossaman LLP Infrastructure attorneys, covers infrastructure project delivery, including Public-Private Partnerships, Operations & Management Agreements, policy, and news.

USDOT Announces $1.5 Billion in TIGER Grants – $60M in TIFIA Allocations

On February 17, the one year anniversary of the landmark American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, USDOT announced the final list of TIGER grant recipients. Grants range in size from $3.15M for a roadway rehabilitation/reconstruction in Burlington, VT to a $105M grant for construction of two new intermodal facilities in Memphis, TN and Birmingham, AL to support freight rail service from the Gulf Coast to the Mid-Atlantic.  

When combined with state and private funds, the TIGER funds will support approximately $4 billion in transportation investment, according to AASHTO, which estimates that States have already started or completed 12,250 recovery projects worth $26.4 billion.  

Shortly after releasing the final list of grantees, USDOT released a statement outlining key areas for investment, which included:

• Freight Rail: 11 national freight projects to help get freight off America’s highways and onto rail.

• Road and Bridge Repair: 13 highway infrastructure projects to make critical repairs to roads and bridges that are in dire condition.

• Community Livability: 22 livability projects aimed at giving Americans more choices about how they travel and improving access to economic and housing opportunities in their communities.

These investments may be signaling a shift in federal policy, and build upon the HUD-EPA-DOT partnership to promote livability and sustainability which the Obama Administration announced last June. Each project was evaluated for its ability to help achieve the following goals:

• A state of good repair for our existing transportation facilities;
• Enhanced economic competitiveness;
• Safer streets and communities;
• Environmental sustainability; and
• Enhanced community livability.

The Administration seems to be applying these principles to other discretionary programs as well, notably the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program, which received $60M in new funding under the TIGER grant program, nearly half of the $122M annual apportionment it had been receiving under SAFETEA-LU. 

Five grantees will be eligible for the TIGER TIFIA Payment program, which allows grantees to pay the subsidy and administrative costs of the TIFIA credit assistance program using TIGER grant funds. 

The TIFIA TIGER payments will be leveraged with state and other funds to support several larger projects. The largest of these grants – $20M allocated to the North Texas Toll Authority for improvements to a high-growth corridor near Dallas-Ft. Worth – could support a federal loan of approximately $300-$400M. 

The TIGER TIFIA allocation fell short of the statutory cap, which would have allowed USDOT to apply up to $200M of the TIGER funds to federal credit assistance. In the past year, competition for TIFIA funds has intensified and USDOT has reinstated the competitive application process it abandoned in 2002. 

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On February 11, 2010, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) posted a Notice of Intent to Issue a Request for Qualifications for the West by Northwest Project.  The notice of intent marks the initiation of GDOT's first P3 project under its new P3 program.  The notice of intent, is available on online at http://ssl.doas.state.ga.us/PRSapp/PublicBidNotice?bid_op=1048400NOI-484-050310P3.  GDOT intends to award a concession to design, construct, finance, operate and maintain a 29-mile segment  of managed lanes along I-75  and I-575, as well as enter into a pre-development agreement for an additional 27-mile segment  of managed lanes along I-285 West and I-20 West.
 
The Georgia General Assembly adopted Senate Bill 200 in 2009 which authorizes GDOT to establish and implement a new public-private partnership (P3) program, focusing on solicited proposals.  Under the new legislation, GDOT has been successfully developing a comprehensive framework for selecting and prioritizing potential P3 projects. 

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Yesterday the California Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, issued a Request for Qualifications for a public-private partnership for the Presidio Parkway project (also known as the Doyle Drive replacement project) in San Francisco.  The RFQ is available at: http://www.bidsync.com/DPX?ac=view&auc=610389

This is the first procurement initiated under the new public-private partnership law in California, SB4, codified at Section 143 of the Streets and Highways Code.
 
Under Section 143, the project must be approved as a P3 by the California Transportation Commission.  Caltrans and SFCTA plan on seeking CTC approval before an RFP is issued for the project.  In the meantime, statements of qualification are due from interested parties by March 1, 2010.
 
If the CTC gives its approval, Caltrans and SFCTA contemplate procuring an availability payment P3, with a construction period of about three years and an operating period of about 30 years.

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”  Dickens could have been describing 2009, as the P3 market continued to look strong, notwithstanding the economic downturn. Last year three significant P3 deals reached financial close in the United States: in March the I-595 in Florida, in October the Port of Miami Tunnel also in Florida, and mid-December the North Tarrant Express in Texas. All were remarkable in their own right, and cumulatively earned Nossaman the top spot in Infrastructure Journal’s league tables in the North American Transport P3 legal advisor category. 

We take a look back at what made the deals remarkable and what 2010 might bring…

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