DALLAS - With traffic flowing eight months ahead of schedule, the private developers of the $2.1 billion North Tarrant Express thoroughfare in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex say it serves as a model for other projects in the state.
"Our project team has been working incredibly hard to complete all of the intersections and bridges, and get the final pavement in place," said Robert Hinkle, director of corporate affairs for the consortium NTE Mobility Partners. "This P3 model and collaborative partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation has allowed us to significantly accelerate the construction schedule."
The 13.3-mile Tarrant County project launched in late 2010, a year after TxDOT awarded the project to NTE Mobility Partners, a private consortium led by Spanish toll-road developer Cintra and its parent firm Ferrovial. Expected to open in mid-2015, the project instead held its ribbon cutting Oct. 4.
"Public-private partnerships produce outcomes that are greater than the sum of their parts," said Jane Garvey, chairman of the investment firm Meridiam North America. "The North Tarrant Express opening is the result of collaboration and consensus between local, state, and federal government, the private sector, and the community at large."
Meridiam, an independent investment firm that specializes in infrastructure, was one of three financial partners on the project with a 33.3% stake.
Cintra served as managing partner with a 56.7% stake. Dallas Police and Fire Pension System provided 10% of the financing.
The project used four methods of financing: private activity bonds, a credit line controlled by the U.S. Department of Transportation called TIFIA, the investors' funds, and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
North Tarrant Express is seen as an economic catalyst for six-cities in the so-called Mid-Cities of Dallas and Tarrant counties.
"Economic development officials at each of the six cities are already seeing increased interest as the highway has neared completion," said Belen Marcos, chief executive of NTE Mobility Partners. "For nearly two decades, there has been talk about improving this vital highway corridor, which in some respects discouraged businesses from locating here."
Drivers can travel the rebuilt general highway lanes and frontage roads at no charge, or enter the TEXpress Lanes. The tolled lanes will have 70 mph limits, 10 mph faster than the free lanes.
TEXpress toll prices will fluctuate periodically throughout the day to maintain a minimum speed of 50 mph. Sensors along the roadway will continuously transmit information about the volume of cars and level of congestion, and tolls will be recalibrated as often as every five minutes, officials said. As traffic levels and demand increase, the toll price changes to keep vehicles moving. Once traffic volumes drop, the price goes down.
