ARTBA Awards TxDOT P3 Deal of the Year and Amadeo Saenz Entrepreneur of the Year

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Christine Ryan

Producing ground breaking advancements in transportation infrastructure is not without its challenges, highlighting the importance of celebrating each success. Today our client, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the organization’s Executive Director, Amadeo Saenz, are being recognized for their paradigm shifting approach to building roads.

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) is holding their 22nd Annual Public Private Partnerships in Transportation Conference in the nation’s capital. In what is being called a sweep, TxDOT has been awarded “P3 Project of the Year” for both the North Tarrant Express and the LBJ-635 Express projects, and Amadeo Saenz has been awarded “Public Sector Entrepreneur of the Year.” Cintra’s U.S. President, Nicolas Rubio, was awarded “Private Sector Entrepreneur of the Year.”

A well-respected organization established in 1902, ARTBA is the oldest national transportation construction-related association and the first to articulate a need for a federally-built network of Interstate highways. For 21 years the organization has assembled leaders in the transportation industry at this annual conference to discuss key transportation issues, including the private financing of transportation infrastructure projects.

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Financing Completed for the Largest U.S. Greenfield Transportation P3 Deal of All-time

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Brian Papernik

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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TxDOT Proposes Rail Division

Posted on August 7, 2009 by Geoffrey Petrov

At the June 2009 meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission, TxDOT Assistant Director Phil Russell provided a first look at a proposed Rail Division for TxDOT, focusing on both passenger and freight rail planning for the future.  If created, the new  Rail Division would have a Rail Division Director, with  four departments under that to-be-named person's purview including Operations, Railroad Crossings, Safety and Project Development.

Commissioners indicated that it would be a wise move to create a Rail Division.  Commissioner Bill Meadows voiced that "the Commission needs to take a leadership position on rail", citing that other states are far ahead of Texas on rail planning and development.

In July 2009, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) officials submitted seventeen preapplications to the Federal Railroad Administration for a variety of rail projects across the state.  The competitive grant program is a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and advances the Obama Administration’s vision for high-speed intercity passenger rail throughout the nation. In all, $8 billion in ARRA funds, in addition to a little over $90 million in FY 2008 and 2009 federal appropriations are available through this program.  To find out more, you can view a list of TxDOT’s proposed projects.

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