A Move Towards Private Roads

The IndyStar reports:

Privately financed toll roads, such as the Indiana Commerce Connector proposed by Gov. Mitch Daniels, will become much more common in coming years, says road financier Macquarie Holdings.


But Macquarie hasn't yet talked to the Daniels administration about financing its latest project, a proposed 75-mile toll road between Pendleton and Indianapolis International Airport, said D.J. Gribbin, a director of Macquarie.
The Australian bank signed a 75-year lease on the Indiana Toll Road earlier this year with its operator partner, Spain-based Cintra.
"Obviously, we would be interested," Gribbin said. "We're very interested in new acquisitions."
He spoke Tuesday in Indianapolis at the Indiana Logistics Summit held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel's Grand Hall.
Macquarie foresees $50 billion of investments in U.S. highways in "the next few years," Gribbin said. Most of that money will go to lease out existing roads, he said.
But over time, Gribbin sees a far more substantial change as more and more new projects are financed by investors instead of, or along with, taxpayers.
"What we're seeing right now is a dramatic, fundamental restructuring of the industry," Gribbin said. "On the other hand, it's happening very slowly."
More and more state governments -- including New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania -- are looking to the private sector to pay for new roads because highway funding isn't growing fast enough to keep up with increased freight traffic and commuter use. Some of the nation's highways are over capacity.
In Indiana, state and federal tax revenue were merely keeping pace with the need for maintenance and repairs, said Department of Transportation Commissioner Tom Sharp.

We look forward to the government getting out of the road business.