DOT Report Sees Benefits and Limiting Factors For Public-Private Highways
Using joint public-private arrangements to build roads can get projects built faster and reduce costs, but there still are a legal, financial and other problems that hamper the spread of such ventures, a U.S. Dept. of Transportation report says.
The DOT report, sent to Congress Dec. 17, says that case studies and two other reports found government-private sector deals can cut construction costs by 6% to 40% and significantly limit the potential for cost overruns." One reason, DOT says, is that companies "have more appropriate incentives to limit costs than the public sector." It adds that the innovative financing in such joint arrangements shows the greatest savings in time. Innovative ways of managing projects also can trim schedules by "months, if not years," it adds.