With San Francisco’s Presidio Parkway project achieving financial close—and surviving a series of legal challenges—during 2012, transportation agencies across California are upping their hopes for PPP-based delivery of key projects. Still, there is nothing akin to a template yet for transportation PPPs in the state.

Presidio was a complex project: the first PPPP attempted under new state enabling legislation. Procurement was accelerated to meet the desire of then-Governor Schwarzenegger to reach commercial close before leaving office. Contract documents from an availability pay PPP in Florida were used as the starting point for Presidio, with poor results. Contractor-developer issues and stakeholder complexity have resulted in a slow start to construction.