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SPEED Act Out of Committee: How it Would Change Permitting

The House Natural Resources Committee finally passed H.R. 4776 out of committee in November. The bill is the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act, and is the latest attempt at bipartisan permitting reform legislation from Congress. The legislation was first introduced by Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas) and Representative Jared Golden (D-Maine) […]

The Evolution of U.S. Express Lane P3s, and TIFIA

The US landscape is evolving for toll roads and managed lanes which are organized as public-private partnerships (P3s). At the federal level, the Credit Programs Office at USDOT’s Build America Bureau (BAB) houses the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) credit programs. Duane Callender, Credit Programs […]

Reducing Taxpayer Risk in Interstate Tolling

In June 2025, Indiana legislators made history. They agreed to finance the  long-needed reconstruction and modernization of their aging Interstate highways, using a reliable funding source: 21st-century electronic tolling. Rebuilding these vital corridors for personal travel and interstate commerce will be the largest set of public works improvements in Indiana’s history. Each Interstate reconstruction is […]

Amid New Delay Dispute, LAX APM Project Files Formal Claim

In late October, the concessionaire for the LAX Automated People Mover (APM) project filed a formal claim for two cost and schedule relief events against the project’s public sponsor, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). The claim sheds new light on the cause of recent delays and disputes on the project, which is nearly complete. It […]

Newark Terminal B Redevelopment P3 in PANYNJ Capital Plan

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) is officially planning to continue its use of Public-Private Partnership (P3) contracts redevelop airport terminals region-wide. The Authority published its 10-year Capital Plan in November, and one of the major projects listed is “…a public-private partnership to design and build a new world-class, light filled […]

Brightline West Completes Bond Exchange

Brightline West, the company building a high-speed rail connection between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, announced that it negotiated an exchange for a significant majority of its outstanding Series 2025A Private Activity Bond (PAB) bondholders. The successful exchange for $2.5 billion of outstanding PABs, which were issued earlier this year, came as the company faced […]

Review of Studies on Sustainability of Public-Private Partnership Projects: A Bibliometric Analysis

Original study by Haytham Besaiso, Moheeb Abualqumboz, Xinyue Cheng The authors of this paper assert that research on public-private partnerships (PPP) projects has increasingly focused on their sustainability, reflecting the growing global emphasis on sustainable development.  This study therefore conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of literature on the sustainability of PPP projects, aiming to map […]

Belle Chasse Bridge P3 Tolls Suspended in Louisiana

The state of Louisiana suspended tolls on the Belle Chasse Bridge in October, just months after tolling operations on the new bridge began. Governor Jeff Landry posted a video on facebook on October 2nd announcing the suspension. In the video, he referring to “…the terrible deal that the Jon Bel Edwards administration placed on the […]

DC Express Lanes: 495 NEXT Opening Soon, Planning Board Punts on Southside

For years, Virginia has been working to extend its express lanes network on the I-495 capital beltway to the Maryland border on both the north and south sides of Washington DC. Both extension projects got some news in October: the 495 NEXT extension project to the north is now scheduled to open in late November, […]

Starting the Transition to Per‐Mile Charging

Most transportation professionals are persuaded that paying for America’s highways via per-gallon fuel taxes is not sustainable much longer. While the transition to electric vehicles has slowed somewhat, hybrids increasingly contribute to lower fuel-tax revenues, and federal new-car mpg requirements are now the largest factor in projected decreases in gas-tax revenues. Over the past nine […]