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Transport Finance in 2026: High‐Speed Trouble, Express Lanes Rush

2026 will be the last year of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). It was a historic law, and there will be a big debate over its inevitable post-mortem. That debate, and the negotiations over the surface transportation legislation to follow (see Poole, this edition), are two topics that Public Works Financing will be […]

Key Commercial Considerations for Agencies Planning Express Lane P3s

Priced managed lanes are having their moment. For decades after their mid-20th-century conception, only a handful of projects reached operation, and most were regarded as risky bets. They were difficult to forecast, dependent on government subsidies, and met with skepticism from both investors and the public. Over the past fifteen years, the narrative has shifted. […]

Transportation Advisory Board Recommends New Federal P3 Office

The Department of Transportation Advisory Board introduced a set of draft recommendations at its second meeting with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in December. The very first idea raised was to create a new federal P3 task force or office to help state and local projects sponsors push projects forward and navigate federal development processes and […]

Pennsylvania Express Lanes in Unsolicited Proposal Cohort

Every six months, Pennsylvania’s P3 program opens a 30-day unsolicited proposal window for the private sector. In December, the state’s P3 Office reported to its board that it was considering four different unsolicited P3 proposals under the program, including a new express lanes project, a bundled bridge replacement project, an interchange project, and a defect […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]