Recent Streetsblog USA posts about TIFIA

Private Toll Road Backed By $430 Million in Federal Funds Goes Bust

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 18, 2016 | 18 Comments

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. For one thing, the state of Texas looked into extending the highway in 2006 and concluded it wouldn’t generate nearly enough toll revenue to pay for construction. Nevertheless, when two […]

The Great Traffic Projection Swindle

By Angie Schmitt and Payton Chung | Nov 20, 2014 | 22 Comments

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. […]

How Macquarie Makes Money By Losing Money on Toll Roads

By Angie Schmitt and Payton Chung | Nov 19, 2014 | 47 Comments

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. Macquarie Group, the gigantic Australian […]

The Indiana Toll Road and the Dark Side of Privately Financed Highways

By Angie Schmitt and Payton Chung | Nov 18, 2014 | 21 Comments

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 […]

New Federal Bill Would Help Orient Communities Toward Transit

By Angie Schmitt | May 5, 2014 | No Comments

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. That’s why David Goldberg at Transportation for America is so excited about a new bill that would help encourage transit-oriented development: Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Kirsten […]

TIFIA-Backed, Privately-Operated Texas Toll Road Flirts With Default

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 23, 2013 | 8 Comments

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 […]

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