1. Copyright © 2017 James C. Breckinridge. All Rights Reserved.
1
Infrastructure Project Priorities: Transformational in Concept, Exponential in results and
Using Asset Genetics
James C. Breckinridge, Esq. – BFD Group, LLC
Anyone who is paying attention to this recent election cycle is well aware that President-elect Trump has
called for a $1 trillion dollar investment in infrastructure over a ten-year period. The cornerstone of this
investment is to be public-private partnerships. While this amount may seem large to most people, let us
look at the situation from a “needs” perspective.
According to a recent McKinsey research report, the world is investing in new infrastructure at a rate of $2.5
trillion to $3.0 trillion a year, far short of the $6.0 trillion “needed” to meet average annual demand to
2030.1
In the United States, the 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers' Report Card for America’s
infrastructure asserts there is an estimated “need” for $3.6 trillion dollars of infrastructure investment
spending by 2020.2
That is a far greater amount than the $1.0 trillion dollars over a ten-year period
proposed by the President-elect. The United States ranks 16th
overall infrastructure quality ranks 16th,
behind Germany, France and Japan.3
The US Department of Transportation predicts the volume of goods transported on U.S. roads, rail, air
and water will increase 45 percent or more by 2045.4
“Container traffic at [U.S.] ports will increase
steadily as the volume of imports and exports transported by our freight system more than doubles over
this period.”5
In order to meet the needs of the Nation for the 21st
Century and beyond, the transportation industry in
America requires a paradigm shift in approach to produce solutions that put us ahead of the challenges
and not always trying to make up ground that has been lost. This means that infrastructure projects must
be transformational in concept. The projects have to have exponential results in order to try and bridge the
gap of the national need.
In an organizational context, transformation is defined as “a process of profound and radical change that
orients an organization in a new direction and takes it to an entirely different level of effectiveness.
Unlike 'turnaround' (which implies incremental progress on the same plane) transformation implies a
basic change of character and little or no resemblance with the past configuration or structure.”6
For the context of this paper, exponential is characterized by an extremely rapid increase in size or scope
and by large amounts. Exponential growth is a pattern of data that shows greater increases with passing
1
Janna de Groot and Ashay Prabhu, Using ‘asset genetics’ to unlock hidden capital, McKinsey & Company, Capital
Projects & Infrastructure, Commentary, July 2016 found at: http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/capital-projects-
and-infrastructure/our-insights/using-asset-genetics-to-unlock-hidden-capital.
2
Found at http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/.
3
Business Roundtable, Road to Growth, The Case For Investing in America’s Transportation Infrastructure,
September 2015, found at
http://businessroundtable.org/sites/default/files/2015.09.16%20Infrastructure%20Report%20-%20Final.pdf.
4
Beyond Traffic: US DOT's 30 Year Framework for the Future, found at:
https://www.transportation.gov/beyondtraffic#sthash.Vtia3lL4.dpuf. Updated: Tuesday, September 22, 2015.
5
National Freight Strategic Plan, U.S. Department of Transportation, draft issued Oct. 15, 2015, found at
https://www.transportation.gov/freight/NFSP, at p. 5.
6
Found at http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/transformation.html#ixzz4Azjyl8Ip.

2. Copyright © 2017 James C. Breckinridge. All Rights Reserved.
2
time. On a chart, this curve starts out very slowly, remaining nearly flat for a time before increasing so
swiftly as to appear almost vertical.
Another practical and fiscally responsible project aim that both public and private entities should look for
is the use of existing infrastructure, especially an infrastructure asset that has not degraded to the point
that it has entered the “failure zone” in its life cycle.7
Investing capital in existing infrastructure at the right time reduces the proportion of assets that enter the
failure zone and also results in less capital outlay for a project. Making use of an existing, though
underutilized rail line for cargo movement is a prime example of “asset genetics” or “infrastructure
DNA.”8
Using the BFD Group, LLC inland port project in Kentucky, let us briefly consider examples of what is
meant by transformational in concept and exponential in results.
Transformational in concept:
Railroads are the backbone of the country’s freight transportation system. Class I rail companies have
invested significant funds to keep up with the demanding changes to the transportation industry, but are
running into obstacles at the coastal port cities. For example, “[t]he fate of BNSF Railway Co.’s new
terminal near the Port of Los Angeles is now in jeopardy even though it has been in development for 10
years at a cost of more than $50 million and would provide badly needed rail capacity."9
In March 2016,
a judge ruled that the environmental review was not properly performed. Similarly, the Union Pacific
“has been locked in what it calls “environmental review purgatory” at the Southern California ports for
nearly a decade as it tries to double capacity to handle 1.5 million containers annually.”10
Rail companies
have invested to provide needed infrastructure, but have run into public and regulatory roadblocks.
Transformational concept: The BFD Group innovative concept requires a pivot from looking for
solutions at the deepwater ports and instead, resolves the challenges facing the deepwater ports and the
strained state of the U.S. transportation infrastructure in the heartland of America along its inland
waterways. The BFD Group project is the development of Tri-modal Service Centers (TMSC), which
provide transportation services via road, rail and river/barge, in combination with Planned Integrated
Industrial Centers (PIIC). The initial location is right at the “door step” of what is referred to as the
Battleground region between West Coast and East Coast/Gulf Coast ports. The large, 1000+ acre facilities
will be centers for importers’ warehouses and is also in the heart of developing agriculture and
petrochemical container exports.
A new alliance and coordination of the deepwater terminal with rail companies must outperform the
challenges posed by the mega-alliances and mega-vessels of the shipping lines. This coordination can be
controlled from the TMSCs. Export cargo can be dispatched in a manner that relieves the deepwater ports
of congestion and increases rail car utilization for the rail companies. And, the rail companies will not
need as large a footprint in the deepwater port metropolitan areas.
One terminal executive said: “The ocean terminal is supposed to be a transit facility, not a storage hub.”
That is the goal of a TMSC.
7
de Groot and Prabhu, Using ‘asset genetics’ to unlock hidden capital.
8
Ibid.
9
Laura Stevens and Erica E. Phillips, Rail Expansion Projects Spark Tensions, The Wall Street Journal, June 3,
2016 found at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/rail-expansion-projects-spark-tensions-1464946201.
10
Ibid.

3. Copyright © 2017 James C. Breckinridge. All Rights Reserved.
3
Exponential in results:
Most terminals, inland or deepwater, concentrate on certain limited core business disciplines. If it is an
inland coal terminal, the focus is on bulk coal transportation. If it is a deepwater container terminal, the
focus is on container ship loading, unloading and transport to final destination by rail or truck.
BFD Group, LLC has a multifaceted approach to three core business disciplines: businesses related to
traditional maritime transportation movement of cargo both internationally and domestically; businesses
related to energy (petrochemical and oil & gas industries) located in the Marcellus, Utica and Rogersville
Shale regions; and business opportunities with the federal government, e.g. FEMA, Department of
Defense.
The energy related development will provide export cargo in large volumes which will enhance the
traditional transportation sector. Disaster relief services for FEMA can be supplied from the same facility
utilizing all three modes of transportation – truck-rail-barge.
There are service synergies between all three disciplines and the same TMSC can service all three with
the same labor force. When one business sector is having a downturn, the others can stand alone and keep
the whole enterprise profitable.
Infrastructure DNA/Asset Genetics:
The CSX railroad has an underutilized rail line that will provide service to the TMSC for both double
stack container operations and general cargo rail cars. The increased utilization of the line will help
increase revenues and prevent asset degeneration.
Summary:
With the challenges before us to our infrastructure, focus should be on projects that provide the most
relief to congestion, for the longest period of time and at a reduced cost.
The types of projects that should be prioritized by the public (federal government) and private investment
funds should be transformational in concept, exponential in results and practices the use of Infrastructure
DNA/Asset Genetics. These projects will accelerate the process of restoring the Nation’s infrastructure to
that of a first-tier country and not in 16th
position and falling further behind. In turn, the project will be
financially rewarding to the private investor and the public via good paying jobs and tax revenues
generated.
Let’s Make America Great Again!