Plenary Roads Denver is emerging from the background to explain its role in the redevelopment of U.S. 36, including how it hopes to raise its profile in the United States, and do some myth-busting along the way.
Closures over the weekend and more scheduled this week signal the pending June 22 opening of the stretch from Interlocken to Interstate 25. Plenary is hoping the project will build its reputation as a leader in forming public-private construction projects with local and state governments in this country.
Those are the views of Terry Ostrom, vice president of project delivery for the Plenary Group, the umbrella company that is a huge player in public-private development projects in Canada and Australia.
The key to Plenary making inroads into the United States is the nearly $500 million U.S. 36 redevelopment, which Plenary will oversee in partnership with the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The U.S. 36 rebuild between Denver and Boulder is relatively small by Plenary standards but huge for its reputation.
“This is really one of the first civil projects for us in the United States,” said Ostrom, who oversees Plenary’s civil construction in America.
Ostrom is a Colorado State University graduate who also owned a construction firm in Glenwood Springs.
“There weren’t a lot of public-private partnerships in the United States until recently, and there are in Canada,” Ostrom said, “so this project is pivotal to us to show it can be done successfully here.”
Plenary Roads Denver also has a huge financial stake in U.S. 36. Besides financing the scope of the project, Plenary is contributing its equity and will be repaid over a 50-year period through revenues from the highway’s new tolled express lane.
“It’s a revenue-risk project for us,” Ostrom said. “That’s why we want to perform well.”
Ostrom is taking that message to public forums held to discuss the 18-mile rebuild, which includes the addition of a buffer-separated tolled “Express Lane” in each direction from Pecos Street to Table Mesa Drive/Foothills Parkway.
Also in the project is a commuter bikeway to connect U.S. 36 communities and improvements to bus stations for an enhanced Bus Rapid Transit system.
One myth Ostrom hopes to smash is the notion that the entire U.S. 36 will be tolled. In fact, the highway’s general-purpose lanes — lanes motorists can drive for free — are being widened and improved.
“It’s been out there that all the lanes will be tolled,” Ostrom said, “and that is completely not true.”
Buses won’t be tolled for using the corridor, and high occupancy vehicles containing two or more people also will not pay tolls. But beginning in 2017, those in the HOV lane must contain three or more people.
Tolls, meanwhile, will be set by the state and not Plenary. They will have to be high enough that Plenary can see a return but low enough so motorists will use the express lanes to ease congestion on the general-purpose lanes.
The toll rates also must not be less than Regional Transportation bus fares on the Bus Rapid Transit routes and also cannot exceed a $13.91 cap.
Plenary is fighting the notion that it is a foreign-based company with no ties to Colorado. The Plenary Group was started by three investment bankers in 2004 and since formed more than 20 public-private partnership deals in Australia and Canada.
Still, Plenary almost always hires local talent and labor to do its projects, said officials. Two of the companies brought on by Plenary for U.S. 36 are well-known locally — Ames and Granite Construction.
“I think bringing on Plenary was a good move on our part,” said Mike Cheroutes, director of CDOT’s High-Performance Transportation Enterprise. “This is just the beginning of a strong, mutually beneficial relationship between Plenary Roads Denver and Colorado.”
Some still see Plenary’s arrival as an bad omen for Colorado taxpayers, especially those who don’t make enough to use the toll lane.
“Lots of people are making minimum wage, lots of people don’t have the money for a toll lane,” said Mark Rawlins of Westminster, who spoke during a public forum on U.S. 36. “All governments have a responsibility to provide good infrastructure for all of us.
“If we continue to let private industry take over these roads, they can charge us for everything we need to use.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907, mwhaley@denverpost.com or twitter.com/montewhaley
