Archives

When Inflation Met Infrastructure

It has been a rough year to be in the inflation forecasting business. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently admitted to having a hazy crystal ball on the topic, and fed officials have done the same. International experts have fared no differently. In early 2021 International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists were forecasting low inflation risk. […]

Ready Your Bridges: BIP Grant Applications Open

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) officially kicked off the new Bridge Investment Program (BIP) this month. The Notice of Funding Opportunity details the application process, available funding and project types, and the evaluation criteria that will be used to administer the new grant program.

Could the BIL Favor P3s for Deliverability?

Speculation over how the BIL would impact the P3 industry has been underway since the beginning of the Biden Administration. The jury is still out, and it will be for some time. If past rounds of speculation over the potential “mainstreaming” of the P3 procurement model in the United States have taught us anything, it […]

Inside the Biden-Harris Administrations Permitting Action Plan

This month the Biden-Harris Administration released a “Permitting Action Plan” to speed up federal permitting for large public works. Details on each of the proposals remain forthcoming; the plan tasks the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) with publishing detailed guidance for federal agencies in 90 days. The […]

Biden CEQ Issues Final NEPA Rulemaking – Keeps Permitting Status Quo

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The adage holds for both American infrastructure and American infrastructure permitting. The Biden administration finalized a major rulemaking this month for the latter. To cut a long regulation short, current federal permitting practices will remain largely the same.

The Fight over Formula Funds Ends, For Now

Funding from last year’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is beginning to roll out in earnest. In his Senate testimony earlier this month, Secretary Buttigieg noted that his department has already put forward $60 billion in authorized funding and opened $2 billion in discretionary funding. That was before the department launched an additional $2.9 billion in […]

US DoT Launches New Selection Program for BIL Discretionary Funds

The US DOT announced plans this month to consolidate the selection process for three discretionary grant programs in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). On March 23rd, the DOT published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for a new Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant (MPDG) program. The program will essentially combine three different federal grantmaking programs into […]

Thrown for a Loop Trolley: US Transit Troubles

Have you heard about the Loop Trolley transit project? If you live in the St. Louis metropolitan area, you probably have heard of it. The project has received a lot of press in recent years. But whether you live in St. Louis or not, you probably haven’t ridden the Loop Trolley, because no one is […]

The Iceberg Theory of Federal Infrastructure Legislation

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is now a few months old, but many questions remain as to how the law will impact major public works and, in turn, the P3 sector. Some of that uncertainty is due to the fact that investment and procurement decisions are primarily state or local decisions. But, given the BIL’s […]