At the request of the National Council for Public Private Partnerships (NCPPP), a graduate level research team from The George Washington University Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration conducted a study to evaluate the approaches Virginia and Maryland are taking to add capacity to their respective portions of the Capital Beltway (I-495).
The research team used several methods to conduct the investigation, including reviewing applicable literature and interviewing over a dozen stakeholders, including past and current government leaders, transportation officials, legal experts, and various other stakeholders.
To achieve the objectives of the report, the team developed the following research questions in consultation with NCPPP:
1. To what extent and how have Virginia and Fluor-Transurban satisfied NCPPP's six criteria for a successful public-private partnership with their effort to add capacity to the Capital Beltway? What areas do they need to improve on, if any?
2. What are the key challenges and obstacles Maryland faces for building additional highway lanes on their portion of the Capital Beltway?
3. If Maryland decides to pursue widening the Capital Beltway, do the conditions exist for Maryland to use a public-private partnership to finance, build, maintain and operate the additional lanes? If not, what conditions need to exist for a public-private partnership to be a viable option in Maryland?
Highway congestion is a major problem, especially in large metropolitan areas such as Washington, DC, and the enormous cost of implementing the necessary infrastructure improvements only exacerbate the problem further. Many state and local governments are unable to fund and complete in a timely manner their roadway and bridge projects. The growing gap between available funding and intensifying transportation demands requires alternative solutions for delivering new highway infrastructure and capacity. To confront the challenge, governments are increasingly straying from traditional methods of financing highway construction to somewhat controversial agreements with the private sector that involve toll collection, user fees, or the leasing of infrastructure.
As part of the Interstate Highway System, the Capital Beltway (I-495) is the busiest corridor servicing commuters in the National Capital Region. Despite the various improvements implemented since opening to traffic in 1964, this major transportation route has exceeded capacity and is in need of significant upgrade and preservation. Given the extent of the demands and the existing financial constraints at all levels of government, it is likely that any sort of expansion to the Beltway will entail utilizing an innovative and efficient method of project delivery.
Virginia and Maryland have been studying methods for improving mobility on the Beltway since the mid-1990s. Recently, Virginia partnered with Fluor-Transurban, Inc. to expand and preserve the existing highway and develop new High Occupancy Toll Lanes on a 14-mile segment of the Beltway. Under this partnership agreement, Virginia will retain ownership of the new lanes while Fluor-Transurban will design, build, maintain, operate, and finance the project over an 80-year concession period. For its part, Maryland has conducted extensive studies of its 42-miles of I-495 and is exploring similar lane management systems and the idea of partnering with the private sector. However, they continue to study the issue and have no firm plans for adding capacity to the Beltway.
While both jurisdictions share responsibility for this 64-mile stretch of roadway, each faces unique challenges in adding capacity and coping with congestion. The research team decided it would be beneficial to examine the inter-workings of this agreement and predict its long-term success using NCPPP's six criteria for a successful public-private partnership. Across the Potomac River, the team took an in-depth view of where Maryland stands on Beltway improvements and the challenges they face in building additional highway lanes. Since Maryland's plans to improve its portion of the highway are still in development, the team examined whether or not the requisite conditions exist to duplicate Virginia's PPP efforts.
In the end, the research team uncovered thirteen key findings: