Virginia TIFIA P3 Loan Rated BBB-minus

Standard & Poor’s assigned a BBB-minus rating to a $300 million Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan powering a big public-private partnership project south of the nation’s capital.

The 95 Express Lanes, a nearly $1 billion project financed by municipal bonds as well as the TIFIA loan, is a partnership between Virginia and a private group headed by Fluor Corp. and Transurban Group.

The project will provide toll lanes in the center of Interstate 95 that drivers could choose to use to avoid heavy traffic.

Fitch Ratings also assigned the loan a BBB-minus rating last week.

In its analysis, Standard & Poor’s said the project could be exposed to considerable risk if congestion on I-95 does not generate enough demand for the toll lanes.

The lanes are scheduled to begin operating in 2015.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Transportation industry Virginia
MORE FROM BOND BUYER