Some of the same challenges that exist with water are found in this sector. Foremost is the issue of aging infrastructure, but to this is added the increased demands created by population growth and the resulting demand for expansion of the transportation infrastructure.
While governments have been more aware of this issue for some time and already have a number of programs, this will not significantly limit the growth opportunities for partnerships in this sector. For one, most federal support efforts have been for the truly larger projects, not many of the smaller but still critical projects at the state and local level. Governments are increasingly moving away from grants programs, replacing them with loans with a significant mix of private sector funding. Finally, application of new technologies (for example, in collection of toll) illustrates how partnerships can effectively be developed to provide beneficial results for both the public and private operators.
The bottom line is to expect continued modest growth for this sector.