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

On June 22, 2010 the Texas Department of Transportation’s I-635 project became the first U.S. highway public-private partnership (P3) to achieve financial close in 2010. LBJ Infrastructure Group - a Cintra-led consortium - will build, finance, maintain and operate a 17-mile corridor which includes managed lanes in the congested Dallas-Fort Worth area. This project along with the North Tarrant Express (NTE), one of three U.S. transportation P3s to close in 2009, are nationally significant for advancing the use of managed lanes to address congestion.

The projects are notable not only for their magnitude and the method in which they will be developed, but also for their unique tolling and financial characteristics. Specific precedent setting-features include:

• The projects are valued as the largest transportation greenfield P3 projects in the United States and include construction costs of $2.7 billion for the I-635 and $2 billion for the NTE.
• The projects confirm the importance of Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and private activity bonds (PABs) as financing mechanisms. The I-635 includes the largest amount of PABs for a U.S. toll road concession. The TIFIA loans of $850 million for I-635 and $650 million for NTE are the second and third largest to close.
• The Dallas Police and Fire Pension System is an equity partner in the private developer for both projects, making it the first pension fund to invest directly in infrastructure development in the U.S.
• They are the first two projects to obtain federal tolling authorization under the United States Department of Transportation’s Express Lanes Demonstration Program.
• To the extent that toll revenues exceed specified levels, the private developer will share up to 75% of the excess toll revenues with the Texas DOT.

The I-635 and NTE validate toll concession P3s as a viable method for delivering needed transportation projects in the United States.  For example, with the I-635, Texas DOT was able to leverage $489 million in public funds to deliver a project worth over $4 billion including costs for design, construction, operations and maintenance.  If past is prologue, the P3 market can expect more P3 toll concessions, as well as managed lanes projects, in the future.

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State and local strategies to bridge the gap between traditional funding and current needs – which has been referred to as alternative finance – are now becoming mainstream. 

Consider Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s plan to speed up the development of LA’s transit infrastructure, which the LA Times reports would include financing from ‘a combination of private financing and bonds, such as Build America Bonds, established in the economic recovery bill to cut interest costs for local and state infrastructure projects.’ 

In fact, this model has already been used in several states for highway projects (see Texas and Florida for recent examples).  Recent changes in TIFIA rules and the Obama administration’s so-called ‘livability’ criteria may indicate the federal credit program’s shift of emphasis toward funding transit programs.  And enhanced versions of existing credit programs, such as the proposal to establish and capitalize a National Infrastructure Bank, could present a new vehicle to make these financing options available.

Public agencies responsible for developing high speed rail will also have to consider alternative financing methods.  The ARRA grant funds allocated for these projects, although impressive, will only make up a portion of the monies necessary to provide a viable service.  The choice comes down to this: wait years or even decades for the federal government to dole out enough funds on a pay-as-you-go basis to build the infrastructure we need, or creatively finance critical deals using low cost federal credit, bonds, and private equity so that we can reap the benefits of increased mobility sooner.  After sitting in L.A. traffic this morning, I can certainly tell you which option I would prefer.
 

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