For P3s to work, cities need more than capital

When urgency, complexity and public expectations collide, cities don’t just need capital. They need partners who can deliver infrastructure projects that meet community needs and create lasting value.

At the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Annual Meeting in Long Beach, California, I joined Mayor Andre Dickens of Atlanta and Mayor Rex Richardson of Long Beach to discuss the role that public-private partnerships play in infrastructure delivery today.

The takeaway was clear: P3s can be powerful tools for cities, but only when public leaders use them to solve the right delivery problem.

Mayors are managing rapid growth, aging infrastructure, transformative technologies and rising expectations around equity, affordability and economic development — all at once. At the same time, traditional funding and procurement models are struggling to keep up. Projects that used to take a decade now need to be completed in half the time, often with greater complexity.

That’s where P3s can help. But only when it is used with purpose.

Increasingly, that purpose is shaped not just by funding constraints, but by the need to deliver infrastructure that is smarter, more connected and built to perform over time. That means technology can no longer sit outside the delivery strategy. It has to inform how partnerships are structured, measured and held accountable.

Start With the Outcome, Not the Structure

Too often, P3s are framed as a financing solution. That misses the point.

The strongest partnerships start with a clear outcome. What are we trying to deliver? Who are we serving? And how will we measure success over time?

Mayor Dickens said it well. P3s work when they deliver better value, reduce risk and create long-term affordability. Mayor Richardson reinforced that point, explaining how cities need to deliver results without putting additional strain on taxpayers.

When purpose and delivery are aligned, P3 works. When they are not, it doesn’t.

Today, defining outcomes also means deciding how performance will be measured after ribbon cutting. Scenario modeling, lifetime cost analysis and performance forecasting are helping public owners test assumptions earlier, compare delivery options and set clearer expectations before procurement begins.

Where P3s Pay Off

Not every project needs a P3. But when complexity, scale and long-term performance are key components, it becomes a very effective approach.

P3s work when the cost of delay is high and the margin for error is small. They are also more relevant as infrastructure becomes more connected — whether that means adapting to population growth, managing demand in real time or maintaining performance under changing conditions.

In water, reliability is non-negotiable. Large regional supply projects show why delivery models matter. Public owners need to plan for long-term demand, test system performance and manage risk across decades, not just through construction. The Vista Ridge Regional Water Supply Project in Central Texas is one example, expanding regional water capacity while supporting long-term resilience and population growth. At the time, it was the largest P3 water project in North America and created over 50 permanent jobs.

At LaGuardia Airport, the challenge was rebuilding a major airport without shutting it down. That meant constant coordination across agencies, private partners and an active passenger environment. The value came from managing that complexity in real time — keeping the operation moving while construction continued around it — while also supporting jobs and small businesses.

Digital tools helped make that possible. They gave the team better visibility into schedule, cost and phasing, and made it easier to align decisions across a large and highly fragmented group.

You see the same pattern in freight and transit. Public owners must balance system capacity, community impact, construction risk and long-term performance. Better data can help make those trade-offs clearer before decisions become locked in.

Different sectors. Different constraints. But the same principle: P3 works best when the delivery model matches the complexity of the project.

Trust is the Real Constraint

If there is one barrier to P3, it’s not capital. It’s confidence.

Public skepticism is real, and mayors are dealing with it every day. Trust has to be built early. That starts with being clear about why a partnership is needed, how it will work and what the public will get in return.It also means defining community outcomes upfront — jobs, workforce development, neighborhood investment — and holding the partnership accountable.

Data can also make accountability more visible. Clear performance metrics and public-facing dashboards can shift the conversation from promises to results.

Without that clarity, even well-structured P3s can fall short, but with it, they can create long-term value.

Execution Is What Matters

The takeaway is straightforward: infrastructure projects remain inherently complex, but P3s are changing how complexity gets managed, and our toolkit is getting more sophisticated. Shared data, better coordination platforms and more advanced modeling are helping teams test assumptions earlier, adapt faster and manage risk more clearly across the lifecycle.  

Success depends on how well that complexity is understood and managed over time. That takes disciplined planning, clear governance and partners who can operate across the full lifecycle of a project.

Mayors are not looking for financing tools alone. They are looking for ways to deliver better communities. As infrastructure becomes more connected and expectations around performance, resilience and transparency continue to grow, the most effective P3s will combine strong delivery with modern governance, better data and clear accountability.

When used strategically, P3s can help them do exactly that.

As CEO of STV, Greg oversees 3,300 team members in 70+ offices across North America. Greg is an experienced and outspoken industry leader and has been inducted into the National Academy of Construction and the MOLES, two of the most prestigious organizations in the industry. He currently serves on the boards of the New York Building Congress, the Regional Plan Association and Construction Industry Round Table and is the chair of the Temple University College of Engineering Board of Visitors.