Adequate infrastructure is the foundation of thriving economies worldwide. With a growing call for increased infrastructure spending in the US, experts have touted public-private partnerships (PPPs) as one way to meet the nation’s infrastructure needs. The rationale behind these partnerships is to share risks and harness the strengths of the private and public sector to deliver much needed infrastructure for the general public. However, these calls have not been received well due to past failures of PPP projects, especially in the transportation sector. Since 2000, several PPP project companies have filed for bankruptcy protection at a point in time during the operational phase which have led to losses for investors. This paper focuses on studying the common themes across such projects in the US. The aim is to identify common pitfalls which can be avoided in future projects to ensure successful partnerships between the public and private sectors.