The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is urging changes to legislation to enable P3s on its road network.
Currently, Tennessee is the only southeastern US state without the ability to use P3s, and has noticed “improvement in performance is prevalent across our peer states”.
The authority said in a recent white paper that it is “seeking legislative solutions” to unlock the “full range of alternative delivery tools.
“Under the P3 approach, Tennesseans in urban areas receive the benefit of additional road capacity, industry receives the anticipated benefit of additional roadway construction opportunities; and rural communities reap the benefits of additional resources available to address their challenges rather than diverting funding from rural areas to accommodate urban growth,” TDOT said.
In its publication on Integrated Program Delivery, TDOT singled out P3s as one of its solutions for a growing congestion issue, which it calculates needs more than $26bn to solve.
The report hails the model for its ability to expedite projects, transfer risk efficiently and bring innovation as well as financing. Furthermore, using P3 “frees [money] for rural investment”, such as adding interstate lanes, the report said.