A P3 Model for Walkable Infrastructure

Investing in Communities Through Value Capture

At its core, infrastructure is not just about pipes and paving, it’s the entire built environment that underpins contemporary life. This definition includes the social infrastructure where life unfolds; parks, streetscapes, libraries and schools. Our social infrastructure is facing the same challenges facing the rest of our built environment – decades of deferred maintenance, persistent funding gaps, and shifting patterns in how people live, move, and work. It will take similar innovation and creative thinking to revitalize our social infrastructure and create welcoming and robust communities. Social infrastructure must be treated with the same level of seriousness and discipline.

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Sidewalks are one of the most important and least appreciated pieces of social infrastructure in our cities and towns.  They frame neighborhoods and shape whether a place feels safe, active, and worth staying in. Yet they are routinely deprioritized in favor of more visible car-centric investments.

Streetscapes should not be viewed as a luxury but a necessity. They cluster institutions, housing, and commerce into compact and compelling districts. They attract residents who stay longer, support retail, and over time become some of the most sought-after neighborhoods in their regions.

Equally important, thoughtful pedestrian infrastructure makes the streets function predictably and safely. It includes continuous sidewalks in good condition, protected crossings with appropriate signal timing, traffic calming on residential cut-through streets, protected bike lanes, accessible curb ramps, proper drainage, and maintained lighting. These are not aesthetic upgrades, they improve performance. They are comparatively low-cost to implement and deliver outsized safety, mobility, and economic returns relative to most major infrastructure projects.

Too often, roads in residential neighborhoods are designed as major vehicle thoroughfares, and pedestrian safety is sacrificed to make car commutes a few seconds more convenient. These decision shape who the neighborhood works for.

Simply put good pedestrian infrastructure lets people walk their neighborhood safely and not have to compete with 2000lb cars. It allows children to walk to school, older residents to age in place, and families to enjoy their neighborhood without fear. Investing in pedestrian infrastructure prioritizes residents over through-traffic.

Sidewalk and curb infrastructure also plays an important role in drainage, storm management and resilience. Public spaces are now being designed to handle heavy rain runoff and protect against flood surges. Viewed through these lenses building and maintaining social infrastructure is imperative to the health and wellbeing of our neighbors and communities. It deserves sustained investment.

Pedestrian infrastructure has taken on increased importance as housing affordability has captured national attention and inspired a push for more density. Pedestrian infrastructure and dense housing must co-exist. Safe, accessible, pedestrian-scale infrastructure is not a byproduct of neighborhood success; it is a prerequisite. This density can capitalize on the existing utility, road, and social infrastructure already built and help alleviate home pricing. However, building and expanding safe and accessible pedestrian-sized infrastructure is vital social infrastructure and the cornerstone of that vision.

People are eager to live in dense urban areas because of the amenities that are accessible by foot. Up-zoned neighborhoods without the associated pedestrian infrastructure are like building a brand-new power plant without the transmission lines to reach the customers. Density and mixed use create potential. Sidewalk width, crossing distance, signal timing, curb design, lighting, and bike facilities determine whether people use the space. Small, targeted investments in the public realm often unlock more practical value than major changes to zoning alone.

The responsibility to build and maintain sidewalk infrastructure typically falls to the city or town. To their credit, most municipalities understand the value of this social infrastructure and have ambitions to improve it. Unfortunately, these projects are often deprioritized in favor of more visible, car-centric investments. For already cash-strapped governments, these conditions become normalized. Public-private partnerships, or P3s, can bridge that funding gap and bring these community improvements to fruition.

Under P3, a private partner designs, builds, and operates a defined set of pedestrian infrastructure upgrades within a district. That scope can include road diets, protected bike lanes, upgraded crosswalks, sidewalk reconstruction, curb daylighting, improved signal systems, pedestrian plazas and in ambitious cities, snow removal and routine maintenance. Most importantly, the public retains full ownership of the street network.

The true value here is not in the construction but the long-term maintenance and operations. The private partner is paid through monthly availability payments tied to performance. Payment is contingent on condition standards, maintenance performance and measurable safety benchmarks. The fee is structured to cover operating costs, recover upfront capital, and provide a defined return. Accountability is continuous and visible, not deferred to the next capital program or inspection cycle.

Traditionally, P3s rely on tolls or direct user fees. Pedestrian infrastructure does not generate that kind of revenue but generates real value.

Walkable streets influence property values and commercial activity. That shows up in assessments, rents, and sales receipts. The availability payment is funded from a share of the increase in property tax within the district, and in commercial corridors, a share of the increase in sales tax. Only the incremental growth, not the baseline, is used to support the agreement. This creates a real value capture where investment is tied to real results.

This structure aligns incentives for all parties. If the operator performs well, the neighborhood becomes more desirable. If the neighborhood becomes more desirable, the tax base grows. If the tax base grows, the operator gets paid. The public keeps ownership, and the private partner carries long-term performance risk.

There is precedent to support this kind of investment. Arguably the most famous American re-pedestrianization project, The High Line in New York, saw an explosion of property values after its construction. Equally impressive, The Indianapolis Cultural Trail produced 148% increase in property values along its corridor, totally $1 billion in added asset value.  New York City is currently embarking on a pedestrian-focus reimagination of famed Fifth Ave being in part by future sales tax. Lastly, in a study of nearly 1 million home sales in 18 U.S. metro areas, homes in highly walkable neighborhoods sold for about 23.5% more than comparable homes in less walkable, car-dependent areas.

Public-private partnerships have already financed some of the most complex assets in the country. Airports, highways, rail systems, schools, and courthouses have been built this way because private capital is willing to take on long-term responsibility in exchange for predictable returns. That structure brings discipline and accountability to projects that might otherwise stall. Walkable streets belong in that same category of essential infrastructure.

Pedestrian-focused infrastructure is not an amenity. It is economic infrastructure. It influences property values, commercial activity, quality of life, and long-term neighborhood stability. Performance-based P3s can tie funding directly to those outcomes and provide steady, long-term support where traditional capital programs fall short.

Written by Aaron Shavel, Policy Fellow