Public-Private Partnerships in Denver, CO: Analysis of the Role of PPPs in the Financing and Construction of Transportation Infrastructure in the USA

Abstract

This chapter examines the expanding role of public-private partnerships (PPPs or P3s) in metro transportation projects in the USA through the innovative funding and financing of transit and highway infrastructure. The chapter draws on research undertaken by the authors on the recent use of PPPs in the Denver Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) Fast Tracks program, a 2004 voter-approved $4.7 billion transit expansion program, and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) highway expansion. After a shortfall in funding, RTD partnered with several private consortia to enable the Fast Tracks program to move forward. PPPs were utilized in the building of the first commuter rail in Denver, a highway bus rapid transit project and toll lanes, and Denver Union Station, a multimodal transportation hub. The chapter discusses what the Denver experience tells us about the success of PPPs in the context of US transportation infrastructure financing, construction, and maintenance. We found Denver’s PPP projects were rated favorably by nearly all the surveyed respondents, representing a sample of key regional stakeholders. The most important benefits of utilizing a P3 delivery model were accelerated delivery of a project and appropriate allocation of risk. The main shortcoming that we identified was that P3s can be complex and opaque, especially to the general public. Overall, we found that the Denver P3s can serve as a useful model for other transit agencies seeking to expand their transit infrastructure. We recommend that agencies seeking to follow Denver’s P3 example invest in specialized legal and financial expertise to ensure the inclusion of appropriate safeguards for project quality and to protect the public interest and that agencies should fully integrate P3s within existing structures of regional collaboration.