Internationally Recommended Best Practices in Transportation Financing Public-Private Partnerships (P3s)

Abstract

Transportation financing public-private partnerships (P3s) are a common practice in many countries. However, they represent a relatively new approach to transportation infrastructure financing for state and local governments in the United States. In a transportation financing P3 project, a private sector partner designs-builds-finances-operates- maintains (DBFOM) a transportation infrastructure asset (road, highway, bridge, tunnel, etc.) with an emphasis on financing. Under this type of arrangement, the private sector partner is primarily responsible for securing all or substantially all of the funding necessary to construct new transportation infrastructure and/or rehabilitate existing transportation infrastructure. This study reviews the international experience of national and sub-national governments with transportation financing P3s. The primary purpose of this study is to identify internationally recommended best practices in transportation financing P3s. Based upon the study findings, a checklist in then proposed that can be used by U.S. state and local governments to assess their current or proposed transportation financing P3 policies and procedures. The article makes a contribution to the literature on transportation financing P3s by bringing together for the first time internationally recommended best practices in ten major areas.