Pocahontas Parkway honored as one of year's best

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Transurban (895) LLC were honored for having one of this year's four best public-private venture transportation projects--the Pocahontas Parkway.

The state agency and private firm were recognized at the American Road & Transportation Builders Association's (ARTBA's) 18th Annual Conference on Public-Private Ventures. A Public-Private Ventures board of directors voted on the merits of public-private projects across the country for the annual honor.

The Pocahontas Parkway (Route 895) in Richmond was VDOT's first project built under the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995. The parkway was completed in 2002. Earlier this year, Transurban assumed the rights and obligations to manage, operate, maintain and collect tolls on the Pocahontas Parkway for 99 years. The parkway was chosen for the honor because the agreement signed this year allows VDOT and Transurban to pursue innovative refinancing practices to build the Airport Connector, a vital transportation link in the area.

Other ventures recognized at the ARTBA conference were the Oregon Department of Transportation and Oregon Transportation Improvement Group, a Macquerie Infrastructure Group-led consortium for the Oregon Innovative Partnerships Program; the Texas Department of Transportation and Cintra Zachry LLC for State Highway 130, Segments 5 and 6; and the state of Indiana and ITR Concession Co., a Contra-Macquarie consortium, for the Indiana Toll Road.