Infra Insight Blog

Continuing a string of awards recognizing its groundbreaking financial structure, The Bond Buyer named the Port of Miami Tunnel Project the 2010 Deal of the Year in the nontraditional financing category.  The ninth annual black tie event, held in New York City on Dec. 9, recognized some of the country’s most innovative municipal bond issuers for transactions in a range of sectors, including transportation, schools, water and sewer systems, wind, and public pensions.  The publication considered nearly 80 deals that closed between Oct. 1, 2009, and Sept. 30, 2010.

The $1 billion Port of Miami Tunnel Project was procured by the Florida Department of Transportation. The concession agreement for the project calls for the concessionaire to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain twin 39-foot diameter tunnels that provide two lanes of traffic in each direction for large cargo trucks and cruise-ship passenger buses going to and from the port from MacArthur Causeway, bypassing downtown Miami.  The concession is only the second availability payment scheme ever undertaken in the U.S., following in the footsteps of the Florida Department of Transportation's I-595 managed lanes project.  The project was previously honored by Project Finance magazine as the 2009 Global Deal of the Year and 2009 North American PPP Deal of the Year.  In addition, ARTBA named it the Public Private Ventures Division Project of the Year.  Nossaman served as legal advisor to the Florida Department of Transportation on the project.