John Laing to Acquire American Roads, Signaling Durable Demand for U.S. Toll Assets

In announcing the transaction, John Laing said it had agreed to acquire “an established US transportation platform comprising four operational toll assets in Michigan and across Alabama.” The portfolio includes the Detroit–Windsor, Ontario Tunnel and three Alabama toll bridges — Tuscaloosa Bypass, Emerald Mountain Expressway and Montgomery Expressway.

CVC DIF described the assets as “three bridges in Alabama with perpetual operating rights, as well as the concession-lease for the American-side of the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel, a strategically important cross-border tunnel,” highlighting the long-term operating framework embedded in the platform.

The platform serves about 7 million trips annually, CVC DIF said. American Roads’ public disclosures indicate the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel alone carries more than 4 million vehicles per year, with the Alabama bridges accounting for several million additional crossings. 

Rather than a single-asset divestiture, the transaction transfers ownership of an operating company with diversified traffic exposure and established cash flow.

A person familiar with the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel who spoke on background characterized the sale as a financial transaction involving the operating company, not a change in public ownership or day-to-day control. The cities of Detroit and Windsor each retain ownership of their respective halves of the tunnel, the source said, with American Roads serving as a contractor to Detroit under a long-standing operating agreement. “It’s really just a transactional acquisition on paper,” the source said, adding that the change in investor does not alter tunnel operations.

The Detroit–Windsor Tunnel concession runs through 2040 under its current U.S.-side lease, leaving roughly 14 years of remaining operating term from the 2026 transaction date. That defined revenue horizon influences underwriting because it determines the timeframe for servicing debt and generating equity returns. 

The Alabama bridges operate under fixed user-fee toll schedules with electronic collection programs. Public rate schedules show incremental adjustments — for example, the Montgomery Expressway implemented an approximately 50-cent increase for passenger vehicles in 2024, bringing the standard rate to about $2.00 — reflecting periodic price resets rather than congestion-based dynamic pricing.

Because the underlying ownership structure remains unchanged and the transaction involves the operating company rather than a transfer of municipal assets, the person said the deal does not alter the cities’ roles or the tunnel’s status as a U.S. port of entry.

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The tunnel also operates in a corridor undergoing immediate change. 

ENR previously reported that the publicly funded Gordie Howe International Bridge, also between those U.S. and Canadian cities, was formally published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as an official port of entry effective March 2. The six-lane bridge, now substantially complete, will add new cross-border capacity in the same Detroit–Windsor corridor. President Donald Trump has publicly threatened to block its opening, adding policy uncertainty as the project advances toward commissioning.

According to 2024 border traffic statistics released last February by the Bridge and Tunnel Operators Association, total crossings at the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel rose 4.25% year over year to 3,870,608 vehicles. Passenger-car traffic increased 4.22%, while truck volumes declined 5.96%. Corridor-wide crossings totaled 30.93 million vehicles, up 6.52% from 2023 but still 8.4% below 2019 levels.

For investors underwriting the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel concession, that recovery trajectory — combined with traffic still below pre-pandemic benchmarks — frames the capacity question as the six-lane Gordie Howe crossing prepares to enter service. The new bridge represents an imminent increase in supply that could influence traffic distribution and toll revenue performance.

Unlike the revenue-risk Detroit–Windsor Tunnel concession, the Gordie Howe International Bridge is structured as an availability-based public-private partnership supported by the Canadian government, insulating its debt from traffic volume risk, according to an April 2025 S&P Global Ratings report on the Bridging North America concessionaire. That structural distinction means the new bridge’s debt service does not depend on toll revenue performance, even as it adds competing capacity in the corridor.

A Reset Capital Market

The acquisition unfolds in a markedly different capital environment than the one that supported elevated infrastructure valuations in 2020 and 2021. As benchmark rates rose beginning in 2022, project-finance spreads widened and leverage assumptions tightened.

In a January 2026 cost-of-capital outlook, law firm Norton Rose Fulbright reported that some project-finance loans are pricing at roughly 450 to 600 basis points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, materially higher than during the ultra-low-rate cycle. At those levels, higher annual debt service can compress free cash flow to equity unless traffic growth or toll adjustments offset the increase.

Federal credit data also show a moderation in new revenue-risk toll financings. According to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Build America Bureau, three toll-revenue Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act financings reached financial close in fiscal year 2021, compared with one in fiscal 2022 and one in fiscal 2023, before edging up to two in fiscal 2024. While the federal database does not capture the full public-private partnership universe, the pattern suggests a narrower but functioning pipeline for new revenue-risk toll projects.

Municipal capital markets have also remained active, with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reporting $580.2 billion in total bond issuance in 2025, including $23.1 billion for toll roads, highways and streets.

Sector outlooks entering 2026 point to steadier conditions rather than expansion. S&P Global Ratings has estimated that tolled transactions are likely to stabilize around historical growth rates over 2026–27, while maintaining “Stable” outlooks for most toll facilities and emphasizing disciplined capital planning in a higher-rate environment.

Within that framework, John Laing’s purchase of American Roads appears less like a cyclical outlier and more like a targeted allocation toward defined concession tenure, observable toll-setting behavior and diversified traffic exposure—assets positioned to generate predictable cash flow even as capital markets demand greater underwriting discipline.