$1 Billion Miami Port Tunnel
Maloof represented a private-industry team that collaborated with the largest state and federal infrastructure agencies to build a 4,200-foot tunnel under Biscayne Bay in Miami. He helped secure political support and regulatory approvals for the $1 billion project, one of the five biggest P3 projects in Florida’s history.
The main challenges were obtaining the approvals and funding, and putting together a unified team of stakeholders capable of managing this most complex project.
The private team consisted of Maloof, Meridian Infrastructure of Luxembourg, a 90 percent equity partner and Bouygues Travaux Publics of France, which was a 10 percent partner, a general contractor, and engineering and other firms. They were joined by 10 international banks that provided financing totaling $342 million.
Maloof was integral to negotiations with Miami-Dade County, Florida Dept. of Transportation and City of Miami, which had the support of the U.S. DOT and its transportation infrastructure financing arm, TIFIA. The P3 team included engineering, construction, project management and operations team.
The new connector solved the logistics problem of moving freight from one of the busiest ports in the nation onto trucks onto I-95 by eliminating their slow passage through congested traffic in downtown Miami. The project won the Grand Prize in the 2015 America’s Transportation Awards contest run by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
