Infra Insight Blog

On March 30, 2012, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)  shortlisted four teams for its I-77 HOT Lanes Project located in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg area.

The I-77 HOT Lanes Project is the first road transportation infrastructure project under a pubic-private partnership (P3) delivery model in North Carolina and will set the precedent for the use of P3s to implement HOT lanes projects in the state.  NCDOT anticipates that partnership with the private sector, and the innovative funding strategies that private sector funding brings, will more quickly and more efficiently bring this project to completion and introduce new approaches to managing a traffic corridor in a region of the state that has seen tremendous growth and with it heavy commuter congestion.  NCDOT invites the contemporary dynamic tolling technology within the HOT lanes approach, which it anticipates will improve corridor safety and reduce what has been an elevated number of secondary crashes during peak hour congestion.

The project consists of three sections: Central Section, South Section, and North Section.   The project will involve the conversion of existing high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to high-occupancy toll ("HOT") lanes, and the addition of HOT lanes along the I-77 corridor.  The chosen team will develop, design, build, finance, operate, and maintain the Project through a toll concession agreement.

The shortlisted teams are:

• The Charlotte Access Mobility Group (ACS Infrastructure Development, Inc. and InfraRed Capital Partners Limited), partnering with Dragados U.S.A., Inc. and United Infrastructures Group, Inc., as the joint-venture builder with Florence & Hutcheson, Inc. as the designer.
• Cintra Infraestructuras, S.A., partnering with Ferrovial Agroman, S.A. and W.C. English, Inc., as the joint-venture builder with the Louis Berger Group, Inc. as the designer.
• Metrolina Development Partners (OHL Concessiones, S.A.), partnering with the Lane Construction Corporation and Obrascón Huarte Lain, S.A., as the joint-venture builder with HDR Engineering, Inc. as the designer.
• Char-Meck Development Partners (Vinci Concessions, S.A.S.), partnering with Archer Western Constructors, L.L.C. and Blythe Construction, Inc., as the joint-venture builder with Parsons Transportation Group as the designer.

The anticipated procurement schedule is for issuance of the final request for proposals in the second quarter of 2012 with award and execution of the comprehensive P3 agreement by year’s end.