As one of the first and largest PPP projects in England, special efforts were made by all parties to the partnership to ensure that the project would proactively identify and address major technical, environmental, and local issues. With the due diligence performed by the sponsoring agency and supporting consultants prior to the approval of the Second Severn Crossing Bridge location and design and also during construction, there was minimal public opposition to the development of the Second Severn Crossing Bridge. By having the public agency take responsibility for the approach roads and the private concession team take responsibility for the Severn River and estuary, this created a true public-private partnership involving both groups whose complementary objectives were the completion of a second access to the aging original Severn River Bridge and leveraging of scarce public resources to get the project opened in a timely manner.
The PPP between Highways Agency and Severn River Crossing PLC enabled the second bridge to be delivered on time and budget by the DBFO joint venture, who arranged to finance the project, retire the debt on the parallel original bridge, and perform operations and maintenance on the combined facilities over the term of the contract, which ends when the debt service is retired by the tolls collected on the two bridges up to a maximum of 30 years. By assuming responsibility for both facilities, Severn River Crossing PLC is in a better position to manage traffic in this vital corroder between England and Wales, and to better coordinate maintenance efforts requiring diversion of traffic from one bridge to the other when conditions require closing one of the two bridges.