TEXAS BUILD 'EM

The population of the Lone Star State passed the 26-million mark this year, according to the US Census Bureau. The 3.6% year-over-year growth rate shows no sign of slowing. While new arrivals are welcomed, the problem, as Texas officials wryly note, is that they don't bring new roads with them. The Texas A&M Texas Transportation Institute estimates the state faces a $4-billion funding gap to meet the transportation needs of the growing populace. To make ends meet, the Texas Department of Transportation has turned to public-private partnerships (P3) to finance and build billions of dollars' worth of new highway infrastructure. Texas P3s are known as comprehensive development agreements (CDA), which are individually approved by the Legislature and represent a binding agreement between the transportation agency and the private companies handling a particular project. For the state, CDAs allow for the leveraging of public funds using other funding sources that often involve the use of toll roads or managed lanes.