Feds provide as much as $628.93 million in financing for Orange County I-405 Improvement project

The U.S. Department of Transportation says its Build America Bureau has provided a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act TIFIA direct loan of up to $628.93 million to the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) for the I-405 Improvement Project.

The funds will support the project to add a new general purpose lane and new toll lane in each direction on a 16-mile corridor in northwest Orange County on I-405 between State Route 73 and Interstate 605.

The TIFIA loan will replace the current loan that the Bureau provided to OCTA for the project in July 2017. The new loan, at a lower interest rate, will generate approximately US $258 million in nominal financing costs savings for OCTA over the life of the loan, providing relief from COVID-19 which affected OCTA’s revenues, and helping OCTA continue to deliver its capital improvement plan.

Project construction is already underway. OCTA expects to open the project to the public by October 2023.

Astaldi Construction Corporation and Obrascón Huarte Lain are building the overall $1.2 billion project. Designers are Pacific Infrastructure 405 Designers, a joint venture of California-based Moffatt & Nichol with H.W. Lochner, Inc.  and Arup North America Ltd.