People

Denver toll road concession timetable delayed

The organiser was originally hoping to wrap up meetings with respondents to its request for expressions of interest by the end of the month. It will now hold those meetings in April and will admit other letters of interest beyond the 17 it has already received.

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The Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority (JPPHA) in metropolitan Denver is delaying the timetable in the procurement of expressions of interest for the initial stage of a toll road project intended at completing the city's beltway.

Written responses to the authority’s request for expressions of interest were originally sought for 9 January and meetings with investors were planned for mid-to-late January. The authority is now keeping its doors open to additional expressions of interest and will be scheduling meetings with potential partners in April.

Denver's beltway: under completion

“We really wanted to start with those conversations a little bit earlier but we think it is prudent to allow the markets to settle,” said Bill ray, interim executive director of the JPPHA. In the meanwhile, the JPPHA is preparing a preliminary feasibility analysis for the project and a more refined construction cost for its first phase, which will cost between $180 million and $200 million.

Ray said that to date the JPPHA has received 17 expressions of interest from a variety of financial firms, toll road operators, engineering firms and construction companies.

“With the volatility in the markets today, a lot of people are willing to express interest but not willing to do much more,” Ray said.

The project involves designing, building, financing and operating an initial 10-mile stretch of the parkway between state highways 128 and 93. The total length of the tolled road will be 13.1 miles and is estimated to cost $479 million in 2006 dollars, according to cost estimates published on the JPPHA website.

The JPPHA was formed in May 2008 by three local governments in Denver’s northwest metro area to complete the un-built portion of the Denver beltway. All together, a 20-mile gap exists between the beltway’s Northwest Parkway in the north and the C-470 in the south.