The objective of this research was to provide guidance to state and local highway officials and private developers on existing and potential public/private partnership mechanisms, including present state and local statutes and ordinances related to private (e.g., developer) participation in financing highway improvements. The project has identified constraints on private participation in financing highway and road improvements, identifies potential opportunities and appropriate processes to implement public/private partnerships, and documents examples of state and local legislation enabling and encouraging such partnerships. Guidelines have been developed for application at the state and local levels to facilitate this form of highway financing.

The guidelines consist of a well-defined, step-by-step process which can be used at the State or local level to implement legislation to facilitate public and private financing partnerships. Specific examples of legislation include recommended language for both statutes and ordinances for three of the most promising mechanisms, namely, special assessment districts, impact fees, and development agreements. A benefit-cost analysis technique was also developed for analyzing benefits to the public and private sectors of a potential funding arrangement.

All research has been completed. NCHRP Research Results Digest 161, "Public and Private Partnerships for Financing Highway Improvements," has been published as a separate report covering only the legal issues.

The final report has been published as NCHRP Report 307, "Public and Private Partnerships for Financing Highway Improvements." Following publication of NCHRP Report 307, the project panel elected to conduct further work to disseminate the research findings through the preparation of a one-day workshop. The Federal Highway Administration was planning to incorporate a number of the products of this research into their training courses. Research Results Digest 179, summarizing all phases of the research is available.