The California State Route 91 Express Lanes, unlike the Greenway in Virgina, is a build/transfer/operate facility. The 91 Express Lanes project was developed under a program authorized by the California legislature in 1989. The developer and operator, California Private Transportation Company (CPTC), is a limited partnership led by Peter Kiewit Sons, a large construction company. Other partners include Cofiroute Corporation, a French toll road company, and Granite Construction, a large locally based construction company.
CPTC put up $19 million in equity with the balance of $107 million financed from several sources: $65 million in variable-rate loans from Citibank and two French banks; $35 million in a 24-year loan from Cigna; and $7 million in subordinated debt to repay a local agency's engineering and environmental studies.
On completion of the project in 1995, the developer transferred ownership to the state. CPTC has a 35-year contract and is responsible for maintenance, law enforcement, property taxes, and other operating costs. After that period, control of the roadway reverts to the state. The state does not regulate tolls, but it limits the company to a rate of return of 17 percent on the project. The road has no tollbooths and tolls are collected electronically and vary by the time of day with relatively low tolls in the middle of the night, higher tolls at peak hours, and a series of steps leading up to and down from the peaks.
The express lanes are adjacent to a heavily congested highway and therefore projections of revenues were less uncertain than they were for the Greenway. As of February 1997, more than 80,000 vehicles had been equipped with electronic transponders to pay tolls automatically.