Success Stories

Solving Traffic Congestion in Florida: I-595 Corridor Improvement Project

Traffic into Fort Lauderdale is heavy in the morning. Traffic out of Fort Lauderdale is heavy in the evening. The Florida Department of Transportation decided to solve the problem by building reversible lanes down the middle of I-595 to accommodate the directional traffic congestion. However, given the various demands on FDOT's budget for capital improvements, the project would have to be broken into numerous small projects and built over a period of about 25 years. We worked with the Department and its financial and technical advisors to help design a deal structure that attracted a private partner to finance, design, build, and operate the reversible toll lanes in return for deferred payments, known as availability payments. To ensure the quality of the project, the deal includes incentives for good performance.

Just as the deal was about to close, the financial markets fell into disarray, forcing the developer to scrap their plans to sell bonds to raise money for the project. We helped the Department quickly adjust to a revised financial plan based on a bank financing strategy. The $1.8 billion deal reached financial close in March 2009, making it the first in the U.S. transportation sector to use an availability payment compensation structure. The project is now under construction, and Fort Lauderdale commuters will soon enjoy a shorter ride to work.

The American Road and Transportation Builders' Association named the project its 2009 Project of the Year and Project Finance named it 2009 North American Transport Deal of the Year.