Managing Public Private Partnerships in Transportation: Lessons Learned from California's SR-91

Compelled by the wide-spread fiscal stress, governments at both state and federal levels have growing interest in public-private partnerships (PPPs) for transportation projects and legislatures are moving forward to open the door to many more such arrangements. Adopting the lens of a principal-agent theorist, this research will trace the evolution of a key California PPP in transportation - the SR-91 project - and discuss the potential pitfalls and challenges that can occur from such arrangements. Through in-depth investigation of the SR-91 case, this research aims at providing lessons for both public and private managers who might at one time or another be involved with PPP agreements. Scope The proposed research will investigate a single pioneering case of PPP which has significant impact to the transportation development of California state as well as nationwide. The study is envisioned as 1) a historical documentation of the evolution of the SR-91 PPP, especially its evolution in recent years; 2) the development of lessons learned from the case that will provide guidance to future PPP transportation projects; and 3) a projection of future trend of using PPP for the development and management of transportation infrastructure and services. Methods The study will involve reviewing the literature on PPPs and transportation development in order to fully investigate the SR-91 PPP. Data collection methods include related existing documents and interviewing key players in the PPP arrangement. The analysis will employ qualitative data documentation and analysis tools. From these analyses, recommendations will be made for public as well as business managers who engage in the practice of PPP. Deliverables Findings will be presented at a conference or event sponsored by the Leonard Transportation Center or a national public management or transportation conference. Research results will also be documented in an intermediate working paper and a final manuscript submitted to a Peer Reviewed Journal (PRJ).

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $5000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  2008-SGP-1039

• Sponsor Organizations:

  California Department of Transportation

  1227 O Street
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95843

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  Department of Transportation
  1200 New Jersey Avneue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Thornton, Rusty

• Performing Organizations:

  California State University, San Bernardino

  5500 University Parkway
  San Bernardino, CA  United States  92407-2397
• Principal Investigators:

  Anna, Ya Ni

• Start Date: 20080801
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20090531
• Source Data: RiP Project 18134

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Development; Lessons learned; Project management; Public private partnerships; Research projects; Transportation planning
• Uncontrolled Terms: Peer review
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Construction; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01462575
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Leonard Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 2008-SGP-1039
• Files: UTC, RIP, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 2:06PM