By Amanda Maher
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
As the U.S. continues to urbanize, cities with existing public transit will be well served, while others will look to invest in such systems. But whether it’s the building of a new system or the maintenance and expansion of an existing system, one fact holds true—these projects are almost always complex, controversial and expensive. Increasingly, policymakers are looking toward public-private partnerships, or P3s, as a way of moving these projects forward.
Integration of the private sector offers many benefits, from more creative financing solutions to deadline-driven project management. What typically gets less attention, however, is how policymakers can leverage P3s to deliver an array of community benefits.
Colorado’s Eagle P3 provides an example of this. When Colorado voters approved the FasTracks plan in 2004, it included aggressive plans for expanding the Regional Transportation District (RTD) across the Denver metro region. The Eagle P3 is one component of that expansion; the $2.2 billion project comprises the East Rail and the Gold Line, the first segment of the Northwest Rail Line, the procurement of 54 commuter rail cars and a new commuter rail maintenance facility. In 2010, RTD entered into a 34-year agreement with Denver Transit Partners (DTP) – a special purpose company led by Fluor Enterprises, Uberior Investments and Laing Investments, among others. Per the agreement, DPT would design, build, finance (with $450 million), operate and maintain the project. DPT also agreed to participate and hire from among the newly established RTD-WIN workforce development program.
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