Transurban North America Wins 2019 Toll Excellence Award for Northern Virginia 395 Express Lane Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Monday, July 22, 2018

CONTACT: Bill Cramer, Communications Director

[email protected] or 202-210-2962 (mobile)
 

Transurban Selected for Administration and Finance Award for Leveraging Innovative Finance Tools to Build Congestion-Relieving Express Lanes

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) today announced Transurban North America has been awarded the 2019 Toll Excellence Award for Administration and Finance for innovative financing of the 395 Northern Virginia Express Lanes project. Transurban North America’s showed excellence in securing innovative finance mechanisms to fund the development of an eight-mile extension of its dynamically tolled network. The 395 Express Lanes will help tackle gridlock in one of the world’s most congested regions and is slated to open to customers in fall 2019, on-time and on-budget. 

The 2019 Toll Excellence Awards will formally be presented during IBTTA's 87th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, September 15-17, 2019 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. One recipient will be honored with the prestigious President’s Award for Excellence during the awards ceremony.

“Transurban North America’s work on the 395 Express Lanes in Northern Virginia is helping to deliver a 63-mile, high-tech managed lanes network to tackle regional congestion, spur billions of dollars of economic activity and encourage integrated multimodal solutions to keep the region moving,” said Patrick Jones, Executive Director and CEO of IBTTA. “These types of innovative transportation solutions that leverage the best of the private and public sectors – including creative problem-solving and best practices in financing – is exactly what embodies a 2019 Toll Excellence Award winner.  On behalf of the transportation community, we congratulate Transurban North America on this well-deserved recognition.”

“Transurban came to Northern Virginia over a decade ago to help the Commonwealth address its explosive growth and congested traffic,” said Jennifer Aument, President of Transurban North America. “Together with the Virginia Department of Transportation, we have created new travel options, invested in local communities, and improved safety. We have saved commuters time and made taxpayer dollars go farther. Whether private activity bonds or other federal loan programs, these financing tools are the foundation of delivering projects like the 395 Express Lanes – transformative infrastructure this nation desperately needs. We are honored to receive this recognition and are grateful for the important work that IBTTA does to advocate for tolling solutions.”

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) is the worldwide association for the owners and operators of toll facilities and the businesses that serve tolling. Founded in 1932, IBTTA has members in 23 countries on six continents. Through advocacy, thought leadership and education, members are implementing state-of-the-art, innovative user-based transportation financing solutions to address the critical infrastructure challenges of the 21st Century.

Each year, IBTTA presents the Toll Excellence Awards to highlight the very best projects, innovations and solutions from the international tolling industry. The awards encourage the industry to share and celebrate new ideas and emerging practices in six categories: Administration and Finance; Customer Service and Marketing Outreach; Social Responsibility; Technology; Toll Operations, Engineering and Maintenance; and Private Sector Innovation.  You can view the full list of 2019 winners by visiting this link.

For more information about the awards or to interview the award recipients, please contact Bill Cramer, Communications Director, IBTTA, [email protected]; 202.210.2962.

Background on the 2019 Toll Excellence Award for Administration & Finance

Transurban North America’s P3 Innovative Financing of the 395 Virginia Express Lanes:

Tackling gridlock in one of the world's most congested cities, the 395 Express Lanes is an extension of Transurban North America's long-standing partnership with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to finance, develop, construct, operate and maintain an 8-mile segment of dynamic toll lanes connecting Springfield, Virginia and Washington, DC.

The DC region recently ranked in the top 20 most congested cities in the world - where drivers spend 155 hours stuck in traffic, almost a full day longer than commuters in New York City. To address this congestion, the 395 Express Lanes will expand and convert the existing I-395 HOV system from two HOV lanes to three HOT lanes.

The project will merge seamlessly with the 95 Express Lanes and 10-mile extension to Fredericksburg, Virginia now under construction to deliver the longest reversible, dynamically tolled corridor in the nation. The 395 Express Lanes will also enhance travel on the regular free lanes, provide travel choices to carpoolers and transit users and improve access to the Pentagon and Crystal City - home to Amazon's future 4 million square-foot headquarters.
 

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About IBTTA

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) is the worldwide association for the owners and operators of toll facilities and the businesses that serve tolling. Founded in 1932, IBTTA has members in 23 countries on six continents. Through advocacy, thought leadership and education, members are implementing state-of-the-art, innovative user-based transportation financing solutions to address the critical infrastructure challenges of the 21st Century. For more information, please visit www.ibtta.org or join us on Twitter @IBTTA or #TollRoads.

About Transurban North America

Transurban is a $45 billion, global leader in toll road financing, development, operations and technology with 900 lane-miles of toll roads, tunnels and bridges across North America and Australia. A pioneer of the P3 managed lanes concept in North America, Transurban has built a track record of partnering with governments to deliver smarter, safer and more sustainable infrastructure solutions to meet growing cities’ long-term transportation needs. In 2018, the company expanded into Canada when it acquired the A25, a 7.2km toll road and bridge in Montreal. Transurban’s roads in the U.S. make up 45 miles of Express Lanes in the Washington, D.C. area and serve more than 6.5 million customers. Operating on I-495, I-95 and soon I-395 in Northern Virginia, the Express Lanes are dynamically tolled lanes providing customers with faster and more predictable travel options. Transurban.com | Expresslanes.com