The Privitization of America's Highways

About half way through this Mother Jones Radio podcast you'll hear an analysis of something I heard about but found unbelievable during this past summer's road trip to Montana and back: that states are selling their toll roads.

At the toll just this side of Chicago, the booth operator told me the Chicago Skyway had been sold to an Australian company. I'm, like, "Yeah. Right. Thanks."

Damn. It's true.

Indiana, Illinois and Virginia have done it. Pennsylvania's got its Turnpike on the block.

The implications are enormous.

From the Mother Jones site:

"...Some American highways are being sold off to the highest bidder, leaving multinationals and Wall Street firms sitting happy on piles of cash. Interstate 90 in Indiana, the Chicago Skyway, and the Pocahantas Parkway in Virginia are now privately owned -- which roads are next? We talk to Mother Jones' Dan Schulman and trucker advocate Todd Spencer of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association."

[source]

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POST NOTE: THIS from the 2/25/07 Pittsburg Post-Gazette:

"Are you skeptical about Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal to lease 514 miles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to raise money to repair roads and bridges?

"His budget message suggested the state could receive $11 billion as an upfront payment. Then it would invest the bonanza to gain $965 million a year in interest to be used for roads and bridges.

"It sounds like a better idea than a 12.5-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax and fee increases that his special Transportation Funding and Reform Commission recommended last fall.

"It sounds too good to be true."

Tags: Faux Press Road Node 101