At its 31st Annual Public Private Partnerships (P3s) in Transportation Conference this week, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) honored four recipients for their model roles in innovative transportation finance and leadership.
The awards were broken down into four categories: trailblazer of the year, emerging leader of the year, innovation of the year, and community impact of the year. When it comes to trailblazers, Dr. Morteza Farajian, executive director of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Build America Bureau led the pack. ARTBA honored Farajian’s contributions to and advocacy for progressing P3s, thanks to his five years of work with the Virginia Department of Transportation, which included the Transform 66 Outside the Beltway Project, the I-395 Express Lanes Extension project and the I-95 Express Lanes Extension project.
For the emerging leader award, ARTBA turned to Ali Lauzon, a Yale University graduate they say is already making waves in her first 10 years in the field. Working with the Virginia DOT, she has helped guide future leaders through co-organization of an annual emerging leader track and as co-president of the Young Professionals in Infrastructure, through which she has encouraged and networked others in the field.
As far as the most innovative idea itself, the award for innovation of the year went to Consolidated Rental Car Center at Los Angeles International Airport, the nation’s largest consolidated rental car center. This center is being relocated and, in the process, centralizing 23 existing car rental facilities throughout the airport, moving them away from the central terminal and giving them direct access to major freeways. Combined, its scope encompasses more than $7 billion and could dramatically transform the airport as of 2023.
ARTBA recognized Kiewit Meridiam Partners for their efforts on the central I-70 project in Denver as the greatest community impact of the year. A $1.2 billion project, Kiewit Meridiam will reconstruct a 10 mile stretch of the interstate, adding a new express lane in each direction, removing an old viaduct, lowering the interstate between major boulevards and adding a 4-acre park over a portion of that lowered interstate, all by the end of 2022. It has also yielded a school supply drive, the creation of a sound barrier for a school and partnerships with area high schools and nonprofits. Overall, the contract should lead to reducing congestion and improving safety along the interstate.