摘要: |
In the National Highway System (NHS) Designation Act of 1995, Congress enacted a number of improvements in the way states and other may finance NHS and other transportation infrastructure so that needed projects can advance, even in a constrained budget environment. Collectively, there provisions are termed "innovative finance," because almost all had their beginnings in the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Test and Evaluation Program--Innovative Finance (TE-045). To date, 67 projects in 34 states with a total value of more than $4 billion have been accepted in this Innovative Finance Program. A number of these techniques, as well as some new provisions, have been included in the NHS Designation Act. They include increased state advance construction flexibility, expanded access to capital markets, increased federal share for many toll projects, expanding project loans to non-toll projects, more flexible state matching requirements, and the State Infrastructure Bank pilot program. Five sidebars outline case studies in Ohio, South Carolina, Maine, and California. |