The Trump administration is doubling down on its commitment to funding more infrastructure through private investment by rolling out a new U.S. Department of Transportation program.
"The Freedom to Drive Initiative does not exist in a vacuum," said Roderick Devlin, counsel for Nixon Peabody's New York office. "It is part of a broader and accelerating embrace of P3 delivery by the current administration."
The comments are included in an alert from Nixon Peabody directed at developers, investors, and lenders interested in federal credit support from the Build America Bureau.
BAB administers Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loans.
The new program is launching from the Federal Highway Administration and includes an appeal to state governors to help identify traffic chokepoints via a
"The Trump Administration is calling on every Governor to join us in clearing the bottlenecks and cutting waste to save Americans both time and money," said FHWA Administrator Sean McMaster.
"We want local solutions that serve all road users, instead of federal bureaucrats favoring one mode of travel over another."
The new program dovetails with guidance from DOT published last month that lays out the criteria for evaluating projects via "value for money," requirements that attempt to standardize the process and improve deal predictability.
The requirements include a comparison of public funding versus private financing costs, identifying required public contributions to cover funding gaps, revenue forecasts and tax impacts, along with risk allocation and premium analysis.
"Taken together, these developments suggest that the federal government is positioning itself not merely as a funder of highway projects, but as an active facilitator and partner in P3 transactions, through TIFIA and other Build America Bureau credit programs," said Devlin.
The DOT cites the $12.billion Georgia State Route 400 Express lanes project as a model for the kinds of projects they're interested in sponsoring.
That
"The new express lanes will be tolled using dynamic pricing to manage demand and maintain reliable trip times, while existing general-purpose lanes will remain free—a choice lanes model that has proven politically and commercially viable in other P3 managed-lane transactions across the country," said Devlin.
U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Steve Bradbury commented on the new initiative by referring to needed improvements at the American Legion Bridge that spans the Potomac River and connects suburban Maryland to Northern Virginia.
Earlier this month, Maryland's Democratic Governor Wes Moore announced plans to create an
A few miles down the river the two states are also exploring options for adding tolled express lanes to the Woodrow Wilson bridge, which was built to accommodate a rail line.
The possibility of adding toll lanes has sparked local opposition and the concept is currently stuck in the
