Tag: Public private partnerships
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Addendum to the Pocahontas Parkway Post
I omitted from the original draft of the “Lessons from the Pocahontas Parkway Fiasco” one of the most important lessons learned. Having appended it to the original post, I reproduce it here for the benefit of those who might otherwise miss it: Lesson No. 4: Public-private partnerships create transparency. As a publicly traded company, Transurban…
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Lessons from the Pocahontas Parkway Fiasco
by James A. Bacon Transurban, the majority investor in the Pocahontas Parkway (Route 895) has learned the hard way that human settlement patterns hit a major inflection point during the 2007-2008 recession. Unlike most planners and politicians in Virginia, whose policy prescriptions presume that nothing fundamental has changed, the Australian infrastructure company has taken a…
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The Idea List
The recently published “pipeline” of 22 public-private partnership proposals does not represent a McDonnell administration transportation agenda. Think of it more as an inventory of ideas worth checking out.
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McDonnell Team Ponders 22 Public Private Partnerships
by James A. Bacon The McDonnell administration has announced a draft list of projects to be pursued by the Office of Transportation Public-Private Partnerships (OTP3). Eight projects deemed formal “candidates” for consideration range from corridor improvements along Interstate 95 to the conversion of HOV lanes into HOT lanes in Hampton Roads. Fourteen “conceptual” projects vary…
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Commonwealth Lines up Talent for Infrastructure Deals
An important story that I (and everyone else) missed… The Office of Transportation Public-Private Partnerships (OTP3) announced earlier this month the selection of its team of consultants to help in negotiations with complex P3 deals. (See the press release.) Developing a bench of outside consultants is critical as the Commonwealth pursues partnerships to build billions…
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Connecting the Dots on the 460 Connector
So, I was digging into the economic and financial assumptions of the U.S. 460 Connector project, and I was reading the public-private partnership proposal put forth by 460 Partners, a consortium led by Richmond-based Moreland Property Group that includes infrastructure giants like Skanska USA and Lane Construction Corp… Like the proposals advanced by two competing…
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Midtown Meltdown
Norfolk Midtown Tunnel. Photo credit: VDOT by James A. Bacon The controversy over tolls on the $2.1 billion Midtown Tunnel/Downtown Tunnel project in Hampton Roads is spreading statewide as transportation advocates in other parts of Virginia ponder the implications of what it means for them. In a missive distributed yesterday Robert Chase, president of the Northern…
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Virginia Toll Projects and “Loss Aversion”
— James A. Bacon In his book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” psychologist and Nobel Prize winner in economics Daniel Kahneman describes the phenomena of “loss aversion” and “reference points.” These deeply embedded cognitive quirks, which had survival value for hunter-gatherers, pose dilemmas for politicians in complex modern societies who try to change the status quo.…
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E-Z as Pie? Not Really.
Brace yourself for a slew of new toll roads in Virginia. E-ZPass will make it a breeze to pay the tolls, but it won’t ease the suspicion that people in “other parts of the state” are getting a sweeter deal.
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Thinking about P3s
Ron Utt, a Virginia-based Heritage Foundation scholar, and William G. Reinhardt, publisher of Public Works Financing, have offered a balanced appraisal, from a conservative perspective, of public-private partnerships (P3s) as a solution for America’s transportation woes. They cite Virginia’s successes with the Capital Beltway HOT lanes and Hampton Roads tunnels in their essay, “Can Public-Private…
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CBO Opines on Pros and Cons of P3s
by James A. Bacon Public-private partnerships have advantages and disadvantages as a strategy for building and maintaining the nation’s roads and highways, concludes a recently published Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, “Using Public-Private Partnerships to Carry Out Highway Projects.” The CBO found tentatively that partnerships have built highways “slightly less expensively and slightly more quickly”…
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Public Private Partnership Laws Need a New Look
The Virginian-Pilot has published a polished version of a blog post I wrote last month. In case you missed the original, here it is. — JAB While Virginia’s Public Private Partnership Act may be experiencing growing pains as projects from the Midtown and Downtown tunnels to HOT lanes on Interstate 95 see the light of…
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Perfecting P3s Still Takes Work
by James A. Bacon While Virginia’s Public Private Partnership Act may be experiencing growing pains as more projects see the light of day and invite public scrutiny (see “The Promise and Pitfalls of P3s“), there is little doubt that PPPs, or P3s, are the wave of the future. Indeed, the United States is something of…
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The Promise and Pitfalls of P3s
The $2.1 billion Midtown-Downtown Tunnel project will alleviate some of the worst traffic congestion in Hampton Roads. But the deal raises questions about transparency and accountability in Virginia’s public-private partnership law.
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State Seals $2.1 Billion Midtown Tunnel Deal
by James A. Bacon The McDonnell administration has entered into a public-private partnership agreement with Elizabeth River Crossings to rehabilitate the Midtown and Downtown tunnels between Norfolk and Portsmouth and to extend the Martin Luther King Freeway. Construction on the $2.1 billion project is expected to begin next year. Of all the mega-projects under development…