2015 Deal of the Year: Northeast Region

Who won this year's Deal of the Year award for the Northeast Region? The winner will be honored on Thursday, December 3 at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan, and later that night will compete with winners in the seven other categories for the right to be named The Bond Buyer's 2015 Deal of the Year.

VOICE OVER: With federal highway funding stalled in Congress and more than 4,000 of the states' bridges in dire need of repair, the Pennsylvania Economic Develop and Finance Authority stood up to the challenge and financed the biggest road project in state history. The Pennsylvania rapid bridge replacement project transaction, which drew 40 different investors, is the biggest private activity bond financing of a public private partnership in US history, and the first P3 in the US to bundle multiple bridges into a single procurement.

The proceeds from the $721.5 million of tax exempt private activity revenue bonds will be used by Plenary Walls Keystone Partners, to finance cost related to the development, design, construction, and maintenance of 558 bridges around the state, over a three year period. The P3 delivery approach is estimated to save 20% on the average cost, to design, construct, and maintain each bridge for 28 years. The concession agreements survived untouched in the transition from Republican governor Tom Corbett to Democratic governor Tom Wolf.