TIFIA
Private Toll Road Backed By $430 Million in Federal Funds Goes Bust
From the beginning, there were plenty of reasons to suspect that Texas 130 -- a private toll road between San Antonio and Austin -- was a bad idea.
October 18, 2016
The Great Traffic Projection Swindle
This is the final piece in a three-part series about privately-financed roads. In the first two parts of this series, we looked at the Indiana Toll Road as an example of the growth in privately financed highways, and how financial firms can turn these assets into profits, even if the road itself is a big money loser. In this piece, we examine the shaky assumptions that toll road investments are based on, and how that is putting the public at risk.
November 20, 2014
How Macquarie Makes Money By Losing Money on Toll Roads
This is the second post in a three-part series about privately financed highways. Part one introduced the Indiana Toll Road privatization as an example of shoddily structured infrastructure deals. Part three looks at how faulty traffic projections lead bad projects to get built, and how the public ends up paying for those mistakes.
November 19, 2014
The Indiana Toll Road and the Dark Side of Privately Financed Highways
This is the first post in a three-part series on the Indiana Toll Road and the use of private finance to build and maintain highways. Part two takes a closer look at how Australian firm Macquarie manages its infrastructure assets. Part three examines the incentives for consultants to exaggerate traffic projections, making terrible boondoggles look like financial winners.
November 18, 2014
New Federal Bill Would Help Orient Communities Toward Transit
The federal government has a long history of supporting transit, but it's never played much of a role in promoting the kind of development that helps make those investments successful.
May 5, 2014
TIFIA-Backed, Privately-Operated Texas Toll Road Flirts With Default
It’s been nothing but headaches for Texas State Highway 130. The road -- or rather, SH 130 Concession Company LLC, which operates the road -- got a credit downgrade to junk bond status in April, and now it’s been deemed even junkier with another downgrade from Moody's last week. Traffic projections for the road failed to materialize, and so did the expected revenue. Now, the road could end up defaulting on its debts -- including a $430 million federal loan.
October 23, 2013
Credit Rating Agencies Uneasy About Toll Roads as Americans Drive Less
Toll roads aren’t the cash cows they used to be. The assumption that the roads will “pay for themselves” is no longer a reliable one, and credit rating agencies are taking notice.
August 5, 2013
At First Hearing, Foxx Defends Projects That Advance the “Public Good”
Should the nation’s largest infrastructure loan program finance projects that make the transportation system more productive and efficient? Hell no, says Senator David Vitter, ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Hundreds of millions of dollars should be available to any old project that comes along, as long as it has a good shot at repaying the loan.
July 25, 2013
Expanded, Simplified TIFIA Still Greasing the Gears of Highway Expansion
A federal loan awarded to a California highway illustrates how TIFIA, the "innovative" transportation financing program that was expanded as part of MAP-21, is still funding business-as-usual highway projects.
July 8, 2013