Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in Transportation: An Analysis of Alternatives

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) are in the forefront of approaches to funding transportation infrastructure improvements. Highlighted in the highway area by long term leases of the Chicago Skyway and Indiana Toll Road, a variety of states are investigating the use of public private partnerships either as “brownfield” leases like the Chicago and Indiana cases, or “greenfield” Design, Build, Operate, Transfer arrangements. With its pending lease of Midway airport, Chicago has been the first in the United States to lease a major airport. But, these and other PPP projects raise a variety of issues including the length of the lease, toll escalation permitted, use of funds, etc. This paper develops a rationale for PPP’s in transportation, evaluates several approaches to PPP’s using this rationale, and analyzes some of the difficult issues that can surface