Leveraging Private Capital for Infrastructure Renewal

Public–private partnerships (P3s) can provide solutions to the project delivery challenges faced by state departments of transportation (DOTs) and local transportation agencies in delivering surface transportation infrastructure by aligning risks and rewards between public and private sectors, accelerating project delivery, improving operations and asset management, realizing construction and operational cost savings, and attracting private-sector equity investment.

P3s are becoming an increasingly important option for financing and implementing critical improvements to U.S. surface transportation infrastructure.  As interest in P3s grows, U.S. transportation agencies and stakeholders evaluating the potential benefits of P3s have raised issues relating to the role of private equity in these transactions.

Recognizing the complexity and challenges of structuring a highway or bridge P3 compared to a conventional procurement, the objective of NCHRP Synthesis 540: Leveraging Private Capital for Infrastructure Renewal is to bridge the knowledge gap on the role of equity in surface transportation P3 projects and to document current practices relating to private-equity investments in small-scale and large-scale transportation infrastructure projects.