Portugal's Brisa Auto-Estradas SA, the operator of the Northwest Parkway, has hired Moelis & Co. to evaluate restructuring options for the toll road.

In 2007 Brisa Auto-Estradas SA and Concessões Rodoviárias (CCR) paid $603 million for the right to operate and maintain the road for a period of 99 years. Later CCR sold its 10% stake to Brisa.

The toll road is struggling under a debt burden accumulated due to optimistic traffic forecasts. Utilization in 2007 was 12,000 cars per day, well below the 18,500 expected by 2004, one year after opening. The project carries roughly $450 million in debt, most of which matures by the end of 2017. 

The Northwest Parkway had been consistently generating less income than envisioned when it was funded by three local governments - Broomfield, Lafayette, and Weld County. 

Some of the banks that holds company's debt are, among others, BNP Paribas and Caixa Geral de Depositos, and Royal Bank of Scotland PLC.

The Northwest Parkway is an 8-mile (13 km) toll road running from the intersection of I-25 and E-470 to 96th Street north of US 36, in the northwest of Denver.

Restructuring specialist Moelis & Company was already by Transurban's Pocahontas Parkway 895 project company to negotiate with TIFIA and its bank lenders in the event of a bankruptcy filing on the Australian concessionaire's 8.8-mile tollroad south of Richmond, Virginia.