How Close is Congestion Relief?

New Initiatives May Increase Funding Options

Public/private partnerships in some states have jump-started a project's preliminary engineering phase. Meanwhile, three bills pending in the California Legislature may offer a way for the state to increase the number of sources of transportation funding.

By Linda Bohlinger and Jack Finn

Photo courtesy of HNTB

California's severe budget crisis, coupled with the delay of the massive federal highway appropriations bill now winding its way through committee, will require innovative funding ideas to keep projects moving. But thanks to an innovative way of building and financing highways and other infrastructure, relief for some California motorists might arrive sooner than expected.

Even with the federal transportation reauthorization bill, TEA-LU, moving through Congress, public agencies realize they can't count on federal monies to initiate projects or for continued cash flow. TEA-LU, which earmarks $284 billion for highways over the next six years, remained idle for 18 months because of ideological differences over increasing gas taxes by 5 cents a gallon. After several extensions, the bill finally passed the U.S. House of Representatives on March 10 and moved to the Senate.

The Value of Public- and Private-Sector Opportunities

Partnering with a public entity is becoming one of the most common and effective ways of getting projects off the ground. One good example is a funding strategy that HNTB's management consulting group Bohlinger engineered for the Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project in Long Beach.

The Port of Long Beach expected federal discretionary monies--which have not yet arrived due to the delay in the federal reauthorization bill--to supplement its own funds to conduct environmental documentation and preliminary engineering. As part of a larger strategic funding plan, HNTB's management consulting team worked with the port to identify $10 million in Caltrans' Highway Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program. The HBRR Program was created in the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1978 and replaced the Special Bridge Replacement Program in the Federal--aid Highway Act of 1970. This grant allowed the port to continue preliminary work.

While California has been a trendsetter in transportation issues, states like Texas and Virginia are racing ahead by utilizing public-private partnerships.

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Projects such as the Trans-Texas Corridor and the Virginia Dulles Rail Corridor, which use private equity or at-risk dollars, will be completed faster than using conventional transportation funding methods.

States such as Georgia, Texas and Virgina offer public/private partnerships whereby firms can submit bids for projects. The private firms must invest some at-risk money, but in many cases this jumpstarts a project's preliminary engineering phase, while awaiting funds for the design/build phase.

Even with the opportunity for private funding, it's critical to have a full financial strategy. A plan helps you strategize all the ways you can secure financing throughout the life of a project. Building the plan itself does not guarantee you'll get funding, but it will ensure you'll be more competitive at securing funding at all levels.

Pending Legislation Under "GoCalifornia"

Three pending bills in the California Legislature, part of Gov. Arnold Scwarzenegger's "GoCalifornia" program, may offer a way for California to catch up to other states and increase the sources of transportation funding. One measure, AB 850, stands out in particular. It deals with tolling and public-private partnerships. And two others are designed to cut red tape for transportation projects once funding is secured.

• AB 850 (Joe Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg) implements innovative financing, including public-private partnerships and high-occupancy toll lanes, to pay for building and maintaining California's roads and highways.
  
  
• SB 705 (George Runner, R-Antelope Valley) gives Caltrans the ability to use design/build, a streamlined building process that shortens project delivery.
  
  
• AB 1266 (Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks) enables Caltrans to use design/sequencing by allowing construction to begin as soon as the design is finished for each phase of a project.

An Argument for Toll Roads

There is little doubt that accepting tolls where they do not currently exist will require a huge shift in the collective consciousness of California commuters.

While looking into the idea of placing electronic tolls on Interstate 15, the San Diego Association of Governments conducted a survey in 2002 and found 94 percent of transit riders and 92 percent of carpoolers asked would support Express Lanes, such as those on State Route 91 in eastern Orange County.

Today's funding realities in California are these: traditional federal and state financing for road projects clearly is insufficient. Political leaders are reluctant to hike the gasoline tax to pay for highways and bridges. And, to ease the state's financial crisis, both former Gov. Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have transferred more than $3 billion in transportation funds under Proposition 42, approved by voters in 2002. These facts alone mean AB 850 might appeal to lawmakers in Sacramento, especially where tolling is concerned.

Advances in electronic-toll collection over the past decade and growing frustration with congested commutes have made this sensitive funding solution a bit safer to handle.

Toll roads in the United States might lag behind Europe in terms of technological advancement, but transportation planners in many states are considered leaders in finding creative ways to make the most of the current system.

Several state agencies have taken advantage of unused capacity in high-occupancy vehicle lanes, with the high-occupancy toll-lane concept. HOT lanes such as those initially designed by HNTB on SR 91 in eastern Orange County offer single-occupant vehicles a choice.

Market research by the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank, indicates that individuals of all income levels use the lanes. Statistics from San Diego and Orange counties' toll lanes show that most drivers are middle-income commuters who only use the lanes a few times a week. The Orange County Transportation Authority found that typical 91 express lane users are working commuters in their late 30s or early 40s, married and with children.

Plus, drivers who use the lanes every day are helping the rest of us by paying a considerable amount of the cost of much-needed public infrastructure that would otherwise not get built. Those are the same drivers who open up space in free lanes for non-paid users, so everyone benefits.

Bohlinger is vice president and director of national management consulting for HNTB Corp. Finn is an HNTB Corp. senior vice president with 25 years engineering experience in tolling technology.