Center for Transportation Public-Private Partnership Policy at the George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government

Dr. Shotaro ABE of the Japanese firm CTI Engineering Co. Ltd., in Osaka, is spending time in September visiting the Center. Dr. ABE has a growing interest in learning about the U.S. market for public-private partnerships (P3s). With the recent growth in the American P3 market, he hopes to study this trend, gather information about P3s in the U.S., and understand the differences between American and Japanese P3 developments. We are thrilled to host Dr. ABE and look forward to discussing all of these issues and learning what we can about P3s in Japan.

Dr. Gifford is pleased to extend a warm welcome to two new members of the Center’s Advisory Board. John Irvine, Lane Construction’s North America Director for Business Development, is replacing the recently retired Dennis Galligan. Belen Marcos, President of Cintra US operations, is replacing Nicolas Rubio who recently accepted a new position within Cintra taking him outside of the United States. To learn more about both of our new advisory board members please click here.

The Center would like to thank both Dennis Galligan and Nicolas Rubio for their involvement on the board. Their support and contributions to the Center’s mission are invaluable and we wish them both the best as Dennis begins his retirement and Nicolas starts a new chapter professionally.

Director Gifford is pleased to welcome Motoki Murayama to the Center. Mr. Murayama is a visiting scholar who will be with the Center from summer of 2016 through the summer of 2018 under Dr. Gifford’s sponsorship. In addition to conducting research and gathering information about American public-private partnership (P3) projects and the public and private agencies associated with them, the objective of Mr. Murayama’s visit is to work with faculty and students in the Center to develop research papers, conference papers, training programs and conferences, providing Mr. Murayama an opportunity to learn about American and international policies and practices related to P3s and to contribute to our understanding of the Japanese experience. To see Mr. Murayama’s biography click here.

The TransInfo Symposium was held at George Mason’s Arlington campus and three of the Center’s Graduate Research Assistants presented recent research during a poster session and discussed the database that the research is based upon. The paper is entitled “Impact of Political Risk on the Efficiency of Public-Private Partnerships,” by Jonathan Gifford, Lisardo Bolaños, Lauren McCarthy, and Jeong Yun Kweun. As outlined in the abstract, the research examines the impact of political risk on the efficiency of delivering transportation projects using a public-private partnership approach.

The 14th Annual World Conference on Transport Research was held in Shanghai, China, July 10-15. The Center’s work was featured in poster presentations that were based on two research papers: “The Governance of Surface Transportation in the 21st Century: VDOT Institutional Responses to Environmental Changes” by Jonathan Gifford, Lisardo Bolaños, Nobuhiko Daito, Morghan Transue and Jeong Yun Kweun and “Evaluating Highway Public-Private Partnerships: Evidence from U.S. Value for Money Studies” by Jeong Yun Kweun, Porter K. Wheeler, and Jonathan L. Gifford.

April 26, 2016 - Top officials and practitioners set a fast pace for discussion of one of the industry’s hottest topics, “Evidence: P3s and the Evolution of Infrastructure Delivery” at the Center’s 3rd Annual Forum. Convening at Mason’s Arlington, Virginia campus, they set the stage for the Center’s new project examining evidence of the outcomes, strengths and limitations of P3s for transportation project delivery. State officials discussed Maryland’s Purple Line, Virginia’s I-66 projects, and how P3s are bringing innovation to transit projects in Washington metro region. Major private sector partners discussed approaches and results for recent projects in Texas, Florida and Colorado, among others, including the benefits users and agencies realized from P3 commercial failures. A leading FAST Act author, Shant Boyajian, provided insights into Senate deliberations on the bill and its infrastructure development priorities. And Delegate Ron Villanueva (Chairman, Virginia House of Delegates Transportation Committee) provided lunchtime remarks on pioneering P3s from the legislators’ perspective.