For whom the road tolls

ABOVE: New York Times photo

James Rowen notes that SEWRPC leader Philip Evenson is OK with the idea of toll roads in Wisconsin.

The latest issue of THE WILSON QUARTERLY magazine contains a discussion of LEASED TOLL ROADS - - something Wisconsin will undoubtedly be tempted to look at.

Indiana has a state budget of $13 billion; they leased their tool road for about $4 billion to "a private Australian-Spanish consortium." Evidently, a few months of interest on that payment exceeded the amount Indiana had made in 50 years of tolling that road (a New York Times story says Indiana earned $287 million in interest from the $3.8 billion the state received last year).

However, the lease runs until 2081; that could be trouble according to critics who fear Indiana sold too low. And privatized public utilities are prone to break (witness the California power debacle).

As the New York Times notes:

“Early on, there was excitement about the big checks that came in,” Jonathan R. Peters, a finance professor at the City University of New York and an expert on toll roads, said of the arrangements in Indiana and Chicago. “But now academics and departments of transportation are starting to see that you can give away too much.”

Governor Jon S. Corzine was looking to privatize New Jersey’s toll roads as well - - including the iconic New Jersey Turnpike! - - but irony struck him particularly hard. A serious auto crash that almost killed the Governor took the wind out of his sails for a while.

Watch this issue bubble up in the near future.

Comments

[Josh Strupp]

Yeah maybe would SHOULD put in toll roads. That way the Wiscosin toll authorities can mail out $380.00+ tollbooth violation notices to half the Illinois motorists that use it and then blame it all on a "computer glitch".

[John Michlig]

Ah, sweet retaliation....