A team led by Spain-based road operator Cintra was hired today to build and finance the North Tarrant Express, North Texas' first private toll road.Overall, North Tarrant Express is a far-reaching project worth more than $2 billion over 20 years. It includes the reconstruction of I-35W from downtown Fort Worth to Alliance Airport, Northeast Loop 820 from I-35W to North East Mall (which carried 130,000 vehicles a day in 2007) and Texas 121/183 from North East Mall to Texas 161 in Irving. Construction will begin next year, and long-term maintenance and operations of the project will cost an additional $450 million.Two years ago, the commission gave Cintra the contract to build what was then hailed as the first private toll road in the region, the State Highway 121 project. That project, however, was later taken away from the winner and given to the North Texas Tollway Authority.Cintra's partners in the project are Meridiam Infrastructure with 25 percent and Dallas Police & Fire Pension System (DPFPS) with a stake of around 10 percent from Cintra.The DPFPS is the first U.S. pension fund in the country to invest in the building and maintenance of a major toll road infrastructure project like the North Tarrant ExpressToday, it looks like collecting tolls on busy North Texas roadways is a much better investment that the stock or bond market.Related news:

• Spanish firm picked to build North Tarrant toll road

• Dallas police/fire retirement system invests in toll road