C. FHWA Initiatives to Promote Public-Private Partnerships

Over the last several years, interest in pursuing public-private partnerships has reemerged. The FHWA and FTA have undertaken a number of initiatives to explore the efficacy of public-private partnerships. Included in these initiatives are a number of Federal financing tools, as well as innovative contracting and management techniques. Some of these initiatives were developed within FHWA and FTA and others were developed pursuant to legislative direction. Figure 2.3 depicts these tools as a pyramid with the market-based projects appearing at the top of the pyramid (since there are fewer of these types of projects) and traditional, non-revenue transportation appearing at the bottom part of the pyramid, since most surface transportation projects fall into this category.

Figure 2.3

Federal Finance Tools for Surface Transportation Projects

The types of public-private partnership mechanisms that FHWA and FTA have explored and that are described below fall generally into two categories: innovative contracting methods through which the private-sector assumes greater risks or decisionmaking roles, and financing tools through which the private sector helps provide access to sources of funding other than Federal funds. In addition, this section describes other activities undertaken, such as workshops and a task force to explore the viability of public-private partnerships.