Triplepundit.com
By Mary Catherine O'Connor | February 23rd, 2010
Back in 2005, 3p’s inaugural year, we looked at the role private toll roads can play in reducing traffic congestion—one of our nation’s largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions—as well as fix struggling state budgets. Fast forward five years, and it seems like we’re still asking ourselves that same question: are private toll roads the answer to get us to a sustainable, more-efficient domestic infrastructure? You can answer that question, in part, simply by driving on any highway (privately-funded or otherwise) and reading any city newspaper. State budgets and traffic both remain equally-blinding headaches.
With that said, much has happened in the past five years that impacts the nation’s approach to road-building and general infrastructure concerns. The I-35 bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 people and raising all sorts of questions about road safety and spending. The Great Recession hit, making already-stretched state budgets practically snap.
And, many road improvement projects got underway—but not just the old-school, tax-based road construction. States across the country are either developing public-private partnerships or contracting private firms in order to finance roads. At the same time, developers are using new means of paying for those roads, such as high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes that change based on congestion and on the number of passengers in each vehicle. Even back in 2005, the New York Times reported that nearly half of all states had already passed legislation “allowing their transportation systems to operate pay-as-you-go roads, and in many cases, letting the private sector build and run these roads.”...
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Tue, February 23, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski