State to gauge interest in sale or lease of turnpike

December 6th, 2006, posted by RobHop

Gov. Ed Rendell said today that Pennsylvania will solicit expressions of interest from firms that might want to buy or lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike, with interest from any deal to be used to cover the state s huge highway, bridge and transit needs.

We don't take this step lightly, but it is a product of a long history regarding our transportation in Pennsylvania, Rendell said during a news conference in Philadelphia.

Before we pursue this or any other plan to solve the transportation crisis, we need to learn more about the lease option and how much revenue it could generate, Rendell said.

Pennsyvlania needs an infusion of cash to solve a huge backlog of transportation projects and to fund mass transit.

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Hats Off

On December 6th, 2006 pghtory said:

If Rendell’s heart is truly in this, I applaud him. It is a practical, market-based solution to a long-standing problem in the state and, if successful, will head off yet another tax hike. Privitization is not the devil it’s made out to be in some left-leaning quarters. Private contracting has proven to be an efficient replacement to state-backed services for a variety of municipal services across the country and given the proper support, I see no reason why it wouldn’t work in Pennsylvania as well. Government had it’s chance and commuters across the Commonwealth travel over the results each morning. It’s time to allow competition and the markets to do their thing. Bravo, Ed.

Re: How would you make money from the turnpike

On December 7th, 2006 phillydem said:

I’ll stand by my comments on the earlier story about this and ask you specifically how you would make the turnpike into a profitable private enterprise?

I’ll also point out that even the most optimistic number, 30B, would only fund roads and mass transit for 15 yrs given that the transportation study group found needs 2B/year presumably in perpetuity. Then what? OK, the state wants to invest the money at 8% interest (show me an investment that returns 8% these days and isn’t a risky portfolio like a hedge fund or junk bonds) to fund half the requirement. Oh, and tolls get to rise every years, they’re just limited to a COLA.

Oh yeah, the market thing will work alright as traffic diverts itself to the non-toll roads increasing the cost of maintenance on them.