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Background
State Infrastructure Banks (SIB) were authorized in 1995 as a part of the
National Highway Designation Act (NHS) to help accelerate needed mobility
improvements through a variety of financial assistance options made to local
entities through state transportation departments.
Since Texas was chosen as one of the ten states to test the pilot program,
its state legislature authorized the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
to administer the SIB program in 1997.
Purpose
The overall goal of the SIB program is to provide innovative financing
methods that will add to the list of options available to communities to assist
them in meeting their infrastructure needs.
The SIB program allows borrowers to access capital funds at or
lower-than-market interest rates.
General Information
The Texas Transportation Commission, TxDOT’s governing body, has approved 67 loans totaling more than $294.9 million from the SIB program. The loans have
helped leverage more than $2.03 billion in transportation projects in Texas.
The SIB operates as a revolving loan fund, where the account balance grows
through the monthly interest earned and repaid principal and interest payments.
In Texas, SIB financial assistance can be granted to any public or private
entity authorized to construct, maintain or finance an eligible transportation
project.
Projects must be eligible for funding under the existing federal highway
rules (Title 23) to comply with SIB requirements. This usually requires a
project to be on a state’s highway system and included in the statewide
Transportation Improvement Plan.
Work eligible for the program’s funding in Texas includes planning and
preliminary studies; feasibility, economical and environmental studies; right of
way acquisition; surveying; appraisal and testing; utility relocation;
engineering and design; construction; inspection and construction engineering.
Future Funding
As of January 2002, pursuant to Section 1108 of the Department of Defense’s
FY 2002 Appropriation bill (Public Law 107-117) amending Section 1511(b) of the
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), Texas was added to the
lists of States (California, Florida, Missouri, and Rhode Island) that are
eligible to participate in the TEA-21, PL 105-178 State Infrastructure Bank
pilot.
TxDOT is planning on having two separate and distinct pilot programs with
separate accounts: (1) The original NHS 350 program and (2) the TEA-21 program,
which enables TxDOT to recapitalize its SIB program. |
