Senior Reporter
Governors to Trump: P3s Not Enough to Finance Countryâs Infrastructure

WASHINGTON â A significant reliance on private dollars to help finance public infrastructure projects is not a funding system suitable for rural parts of the country, a group of governors told reporters after meeting with President Trump on Feb. 27.
The governors convened downtown for the National Governors Associationâs winter conference to emphasize their hope for more federal dollars to advance major repair work along freight corridors and on major bridges.
âPublic-private partnerships are a great tool, and I think they have to be embraced,â Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said at the associationâs closing press conference. âThereâs got to be additional revenues, and states will have to come up with additional resources. The federal government will have to come up with additional resources.â
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Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) echoed Hickenlooperâs concern over P3s and also indicated his state would continue adopting private partnerships, absent a sustainable revenue stream for transportation from Congress. Virginia transportation projects sought private capital for the Capital Beltwayâs rapid access âhotâ lanes. The state also tapped private expertise to build, maintain and operate lanes along Interstate 66.
âUntil they come up with a dedicated source of funding going forward, itâs going to make it very difficultâ to address big-ticket infrastructure projects, McAuliffe, the associationâs chairman, said at the same press conference. When asked whether Congress should increase taxes on fuel to generate additional revenue for the federal Highway Trust Fund, McAuliffe said that was not a decision for him to make.
Lawmakers argue P3s that issue tolls along rural roadways would lack the requisite traffic volume for achieving meaningful investment returns.
In the Feb. 27 meeting with governors at the White House, Trump said his speech to Congress would include a âbig statementâ to âmake it easier for states to invest in infrastructure.â
âWe spent $6 trillion in the Middle East, and we have potholes all over our highways and our roads,â Trump said, adding, âI have a friend who is in the trucking business. He said, 'My trucks are destroyed going from New York to Los Angeles.' â
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