Infra Insight Blog

On March 2, Governor Larry Hogan and Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Secretary Pete Rahn greenlighted procurement of the Purple Line by MDOT and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA). The contract has been posted and is scheduled for review by the Maryland Board of Public Works in early April.

Part of the region’s ambitious transit strategic plan, the Purple Line is a 16.2 mile, 21 station light rail line that provides additional mobility to the region. MTA estimates total daily ridership will be 69,000 per day by 2030 (74,000 by 2040). The new line will interface ...

Introduction

On Wednesday, February 24, 2016, Florida’s Governor Rick Scott signed two bills which exempt trade secret financial information from the state’s Sunshine Laws. The change is significant in a state known for expansive open records and meetings laws, and should provide comfort to private sector participants pursuing P3 projects and otherwise doing business in Florida. Both acts take effect on October 1, 2016.

SBs 180 and 182

SB 180 amends Section 812.081 of the Florida Statutes by expanding the definition of trade secret to include financial information ...

State and local governments can now obtain railroad bridge inspection reports by making requests on the website of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). This new tool will help state and local governments gain better information regarding this important aspect of railroad safety in their communities.

Access to the public version of bridge inspection reports is required by section 11405 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act). Under the FAST Act, the following information about a bridge will be included in the report:

• The date of the last inspection;

At the end of 2015, two modal administrations of the United States Department of Transportation (US DOT) have encountered changes to their Buy America programs.  Both the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have had changes imposed upon their Buy America procedures – the FTA by Congress through provisions in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (or, FAST Act) and the FHWA through a recent opinion in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing ...

Design liability and right-of-way risk allocation are topics addressed in a legal research digest recently published by the Transportation Research Board’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP).  The report, which can be downloaded here, discusses statutes, case law and contract language relevant to design liability, addresses how the right of way acquisition process interrelates with design-build projects, and analyzes how design-build contracts allocate the related risks.  The report was authored by Michael Loulakis (Capital Project Strategies ...