About the PNWER Regional Infrastructure Accelerator
The Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) is a public-private nonprofit created by statute in 1991 by the states of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Washington, and the Canadian provinces and territories of Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.
Through its U.S-focused work, PNWER was selected as one of the first five U.S. DOT Regional Infrastructure Accelerator (RIA) demonstration programs and began working to accelerate two projects in early 2022. Under this scope, the PNWER RIA also established a Center of Excellence to bring public-private partnership (P3) best practices to the region. In October 2023, the PNWER RIA was awarded a second grant from USDOT to continue its work through 2026.
As a PNWER program, the Regional Infrastructure Accelerator demonstration program benefits from the expertise and specialized knowledge of the full PNWER staff, and bi-national experts from PNWER’s 18 Working Groups. PNWER’s Executive Board includes State Legislators and Canadian MLA’s, and the PNWER Private Council includes some of the leading companies from across the U.S. and Canada. Taken together, PNWER presents a unique forum for collaboration, best practice sharing, and productive discussion to address the region’s toughest challenges.
The PNWER RIA program is just one of many PNWER-backed efforts to foster collaboration and coordination across state lines and beyond discrete jurisdictional boundaries. Other key programs include:
Legislative Energy Horizon Institute (LEHI) - North America’s Premier Program for Educating Energy Policy Makers
Center for Regional Disaster Resilience (CRDR) - Working to Create Public-Private Partnerships, Develop Action Plans, Undertake Pilot Projects and Activities to Improve Regional Disaster Resilience and Preparedness
Congregate / RISE-WA - Rural Investment for Small-Business Empowerment in Washington state
History of the RIA
The PNWER Transportation Working Group has long been an advocate of innovative infrastructure financing projects. PNWER has supported the Regional Infrastructure Accelerator concept since its inception in the FAST Act, which became federal law in 2015.
U.S. DOT awarded PNWER funding to establish its RIA in early 2022. In 2024, the PNWER RIA begins its second 2-year iteration, joining 23 other accelerators throughout the country in helping transportation infrastructure projects reach the finish line.
