Ms. Marcos is the United States President of Cintra, a global leader in transportation infrastructure development with U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas and wholly owned by Ferrovial, one of the largest companies from Spain. As president, Ms. Marcos is responsible for leading Cintra’s U.S. operations, which includes over $10.3 billion in infrastructure projects and investments. She has more than 15 years of international leadership experience managing and operating tolled highways in the private infrastructure development and construction sectors. USEC had a unique opportunity to hold this exclusive interview with her to discuss the success of Cintra in the US market as well as the challenges faced and lessons learned. Her full bio can be found at the end of this article.
1) Cintra has had a very successful entry into the US market in a short period of time. Can you provide us with a summary of this process and highlight the key elements of its success?
Cintra’s first project in the US market was the lease of the Skyway Project in Chicago, Illinois in December 2004 and shortly after we opened the Cintra US headquarters in Austin, Texas. We were awarded the Indiana Toll Road Project in 2006, four projects in Texas between 2007 and 2012, and more recently, I-77 in Charlotte and I-66 in Virginia, the largest competitively awarded P3 project [Public-Private Partnership] in the US.
As one of the leading private-sector transportation infrastructure companies in the world, Cintra draws from its more than 50 years of experience managing infrastructure assets in Europe and other countries around the world to successfully deliver very complex projects, such as the managed lanes in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
We are constantly developing new ideas and methods to improve infrastructure delivery that ultimately benefits our partners and end users. Our main goal is to develop comprehensive, customized design solutions to help our local community partners overcome complex transportation challenges and grow their local economies in the process.
2) Are there any mistakes made during this process that you can share, along with the lessons learnt from them?
In Europe and some of the other countries where we operate, the P3 model is more readily accepted as a project delivery method and has been utilized for decades. In the US however, the P3 model is still relatively new so we found that there needs to be more transparency and education upfront as to the reasoning a public entity may select this delivery method as well as to demonstrate the benefits and value taxpayers receive.
We work very closely with the local communities to provide educational materials, understand their concerns and develop solutions to best meet their needs. At the end of the day, we are providing a service so we can only be successful if the community sees the value of our project.
3) What are the main differences you have found in how transportation infrastructure projects are funded and managed by the governments of Spain and the US?
P3s are a relatively common way to fund public infrastructure in Spain (our first project in Spain was the Bilbao-Behovia highway, awarded in 1968) and in other countries around the world, but they have only been used in the US for the last 25 years or so, and it is still not very widespread method to deliver infrastructure. For example, there are 14 states that do not have any legislation enabling P3 projects and many of the states that do have P3 legislation are limited to certain type of projects or only specific projects.
As a result, the concession contracts are developed specifically for each project (unlike in Spain, where the contract is standard) which leads to a more complex and lengthy procurement process. On the other hand, the process is more flexible than in Spain and allows for more creativity from the private sector to be introduced, which improves the quality of the final proposal as well as increases the benefit to the taxpayers.
4) How has Cintra’s experience in the US influenced the global strategy of its parent company, Ferrovial?
The US has been one of the target markets for Ferrovial for the last 15 years. The US has an immense need for infrastructure and a lack of public funding. That, coupled with the economic and political stability, make it the perfect environment for companies like Ferrovial to invest. At the same time, our international expertise, our financial strength and our ability to deliver complex projects allows us to successfully focus our strategy in the US market.
5) What have been the main challenges you have found running a foreign-owned company doing business with State agencies in the US, what have been the most effective strategies?
As I mentioned before, the use of the P3 model in the US is still in its infancy, so the majority of the companies that possess the knowledge and expertise to execute these large scale infrastructure projects are predominantly foreign companies.
I think State officials recognize the expertise and reputation that international companies bring to the table in this type of deal and they also appreciate the willingness to invest foreign capital in the US market.
On the other hand, the public is not very familiar with the P3 concept and the idea of having foreign companies developing public infrastructure has generated some negative reaction from the local communities, especially due to the lack of understanding of how concession contracts work. To overcome that issue, the best strategy is to educate the public about the scope and benefits of this type of delivery method, emphasizing the ability to deliver projects faster and more efficiently, while keeping the oversight and control of the asset by the public entity.
6) There is a growing concern in the international business community about the increase in protectionism and barriers to entry into the US market, as displayed by recent increases in tariffs and difficulties getting visas to work in the US. How does all this impact Cintra’s activities?
In principle, increases in tariffs affect mainly the price of materials for construction and that would affect all companies equally therefore, for future projects that are bid competitively, the conditions would be the same for any competitor, so that should not affect our ability to grow. Unfortunately, that will increase the final price of all projects.
Regarding working visas, due to the low unemployment rates in the US, it is already challenging to hire the right individuals in our very specialized business. The current difficulties to get visas for foreign nationals to work in the US makes it even more challenging.
7) What are the main challenges and solutions you have identified in running a multinational operation smoothly between Spain and the US?
As you probably know, things work very differently here than in Spain. In our particular business, the US is like 50 different countries, since every state has different legislation and different ways of doing things. This has been a challenge since we have had to adapt ourselves to the different industry practices.
Another big difference is that public involvement in the US is more prominent than in Spain, so community outreach has been critical to our operations and we have also had a learning curve from that perspective.
8) Most major car manufacturers are placing billions of dollars into acquisitions and investments related to autonomous vehicles. As somebody with a long experience in the transportation industry, how do you think this technology will impact future development of transportation infrastructure?
Full automation will certainly have positive and negative impacts on road traffic: on one side there will certainly be an increase in effective road capacity as a consequence of vehicles driving closer, faster and interacting more efficiently with each other. On the other hand, there will be an increase in road demand created by lower car usage costs, access to new population (young, elder and disabled people) as well as longer commuter times and bigger urban sprawl. It is hard to predict what the balance will be at the end of the process, but this is still many years away.
During the transition period, between 2020 and 2050, there will be a challenging interaction of Autonomous Vehicles with conventional vehicles, and most studies agree that there will be an increased demand on the road but without the effective increase in road capacity, stressing urban congestion.
This is an exciting and promising technology but there is a lot that we still need to learn and research before we change the way infrastructure is developed based the possible outcomes of this new technologies.
Belen Marcos is the United States President of Cintra, a global leader in transportation infrastructure development with U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas. As president, Ms. Marcos is responsible for leading Cintra’s U.S. operations, which includes over $10.3 billion in infrastructure projects and investments.
MS. BELEN MARCOS’ BIO
Belen Marcos is the United States President of Cintra, a global leader in transportation infrastructure development with U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas. As president, Ms. Marcos is responsible for leading Cintra’s U.S. operations, which includes over $10.3 billion in infrastructure projects and investments.
Ms. Marcos has more than 15 years of international leadership experience managing and operating tolled highways in the private infrastructure development and construction sectors. Most recently, she served as the Chief Executive Officer of the highly successful LBJ Express, North Tarrant Express and North Tarrant Express 35W managed lanes projects in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. In that capacity, she was responsible for the overall management, implementation, delivery and operation of the projects.
Ms. Marcos began her career in the Business Development Department at Cintra’s corporate offices in Madrid, Spain. She then went on to hold the leadership positions of Chief Operating Officer for the Chicago Skyway in Chicago, Illinois, and Chief Information Officer for the Indiana Toll Road in Granger, Indiana.
Ms. Marcos earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain and a master’s degree in Transportation Infrastructure from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in France.
She and her family live in Austin, Texas.