The Virginia Dept. of Transportation’s second attempt to identify a suitable private-sector partner for its U.S. Route 460 Improvements Project has yielded conceptual proposals from three development consortiums to develop, construct and operate a 55-mile, four-lane toll road between Petersburg and Suffolk.

One group is led by Spanish infrastructure giant Cintra Infraestructuras S.A. Another, 460 Partners, is led by Moreland Property Group Inc. of Richmond, Va., and includes, among others, Lane Construction Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., Skanska USA Civil Southeast of Virginia Beach, Va., and AECOM. A third team, Multimodal Solutions of New Hyde Park, N.Y., includes Clark Construction Group of Bethesda, Md., Kiewit Construction of Omaha, Neb., and the Louis Berger Group of Washington, D.C., among others.

Projected to cost $2 billion, the new highway would provide a high-speed alternative for moving freight between Virginia’s ports and the Interstate-95 corridor. After the initial 2006 solicitation failed to attract a satisfactory response, VDOT issued a new solicitation in May in hopes of attracting more competitive and innovative proposals.

VDOT hopes to make a selection and finalize a comprehensive agreement for the project by the end of next year.