Senior Reporter
Secretary Foxx Touts P3s for Infrastructure Projects
At the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships’ P3 Connect Conference in Boston, Foxx stressed P3s offer an alternative for states and municipalities to advance key projects because funding for infrastructure has been insufficient at the federal level.
“This nation is facing an infrastructure deficit,” Foxx said in written remarks. “Yet we know that our country is growing — and that we’re going to have more people accessing our roads, rails and airports than ever before, and more freight to move than ever before.
“P3s cannot replace adequate public financing,” he added. “There is no substitute for that. They can, however, supplement it, and at this point, they have been supplementing investments in our infrastructure for a while.”
The secretary noted the White House’s Build America Transportation Investment Center, established to help entities identify private funds, has backed about $18 billion for infrastructure investment. The U.S. Department of Transportation also facilitates access to capital through a low-interest loan program, which may require a match from investors, he said.
The secretary highlighted Virginia’s express lanes in the Washington, D.C.-area Beltway corridor as an example of a revenue-sharing agreement between a private firm and a state agency, the Virginia Department of Transportation.
