U.S. Department of Transportation Announces up to $605.33 million to the Grand Parkway Transportation Corporation for the Grand Parkway Segments H & I Project
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation today announced its Build America Bureau (the “Bureau”) has provided a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) direct loan in the amount of up to $605.33 million to the Grand Parkway Transportation Corporation (GPTC or Borrower) for the Grand Parkway Segments H & I (the Project). The Department provides TIFIA and other surface transportation infrastructure financing through the Bureau to help reduce the cost of infrastructure projects.
The Project, which began in the 1960s, is the outer ring tollway construction project in the Greater Houston area, developing the next sections of a proposed 184-mile circumferential tollway known as the Grand Parkway (the System). The Project’s sponsor is the Texas Department of Transportation, which initiated the TIFIA loan in 2015. The Texas Department of Transportation vested GPTC, a public non-profit surface transportation corporation, with the task of developing, financing, refinancing, designing, constructing, expanding, tolling, operating, and maintaining the System.
The first five Segments of the System, Segments D-G, were completed in stages and commenced tolling operations between February 2014 and April 2016. The Initial System was financed by a $840.6 million TIFIA Loan that closed on February 6, 2014 (since repaid in full). The Project will include: 43.6 miles of new highway construction, toll installation and configuration, and toll equipment upgrades along the existing 8.7-mile four-lane corridor of the toll lane facility. The lower interest rate will generate savings of approximately $194 million in interest cost over the life of the loan.
Construction for the Project commenced in July 2018. The Project was 80% complete as of May 29, 2021 and is on schedule to reach completion by April 2022.
The Bureau, which administers the TIFIA credit program, was established as a “one-stop-shop” to streamline credit opportunities while also providing technical assistance and encouraging innovative best practices in project planning, financing, delivery, and operation. The Bureau has the resources and full commitment to provide additional flexibility and financial assistance to transportation projects in regions impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to minimize the negative effects and help them for quicker recovery from this crisis. The U.S. Department of Transportation has closed $34.5 billion in TIFIA financings, supporting more than $120 billion in infrastructure investment across the country.
