The backlash against privately-run toll roads

Are privately-run toll roads the answer to Texas' road funding problems? Gov. Minority seems to think so. We have had a variety of discussions on the issue here, including whether the Belo Parkway will be run by private operators. Earlier this year, Cintra, a Spanish company, got elbowed out of the way in its bid to operate Texas 121.

All of which makes this, from the New York Times, quite relevant. New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine wants to turn his state's two toll roads over to private companies for an up-front cash payment. The story discusses the pros and cons of the argument, but notes one key proviso of  Indiana's privatization, which is often held up as an example for the rest of the country: "... specialists who study toll road deals cautioned that the lease in Indiana was structured so that tolls would remain relatively stable for the first decade, then could rise quickly for the remainder of the lease — after many of the politicians who signed the original lease have left office."

In other words, we get a wad of cash at the beginning of the deal, and then the private companies who run the roads raise tolls when the people who signed the deal are gone and can't be held accountable. It's win-win for everyone but the people who pay the tolls. No wonder the politicians like the concept so much.

Comments

[Aren Cambre]

Toll roads conceptually make a lot of sense. You only pay for what you use, better roads can charge and get higher tolls than worse roads, market economics won't allow "bridges to nowhere", etc.

The problem is that the US made a conscious choice to socialize its road transportation system early on, and we're stuck with that legacy. The process of concerting this socialized, public resource into a marketable asset is messy, and people are getting things wrong.

50 year leases? That's more than half a typical lifetime. Wow!

There are even provisions that can be interpreted to require authorities to congest nearby free roads with lower speed limits. See http://www.reporternews.com/news/2007/Nov/05/toll-road-contract-would-reward-lower-speed-on-i/. And the quoted TxDOT official is lying: speed limits _are_ arbitrarily set, which is why virtually every rural road has the exact same limit despite highly varying conditions. It's just a flick of the pen to change the referenced current speed limit policy, which has been under attack from environmental extremists and now-deceased Texas Transportation Commissioner Ric Williamson.

[Jackson Walker]

Socialized transportation system? WTF?

FREEways have been a model for economic growth throughout the country. They're the great equalizer, allowing the very poor to the very rich equal access to transportation. Our national highway system is one of the greatest assets we Americans have. It facilitates commerce, connects disparate communities, and allows us freedom of movement.

Toll roads run counter to every great American value. Those who want to toll our roads and tax our mobility are doing a great disservice to the foundation of our country. The gasoline tax is a much better way to provide funding for roads. It rewards conservation (Prius' pay less in taxes than Hummers), does not track our movement (like Toll Tags and tolling cameras), and has worked well for the last 50 years. Changing that model would be detrimental to our way of life.

People like Aren refuse to accept that government CAN do some things better than private enterprise. National defense, utitlities, and infrastructure are prime examples. I can't afford to clean my own water or build my own roads. But together, with other Americans, we, through our government, have found a better way. Unfortunately, ideologues have been working in our government to strangle funding for roads so we must turn to the private sector.

We need to throw those bums out and get back to President Eisenhower's original vision that worked so well for 50+ years.

[Alex]

Eisenhower was a socialist. (at least in the eyes of dyed in the wool Republicans like Cambre here) HA!

[Lee G.]

One would have thought that eight years of Heckuva Job Bushie would have cured even the most ardent free market fundamentalist of this nonsense.