Who Really Owns the Roads?
Source: By Barbara Kiviat, Time, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007
....... For states and cities looking to upgrade or replace aging infrastructure, partnering with private players is the biggest idea to come along since the interstate highway system started ribboning the country with asphalt in the 1950s. The appeal: governments can stop worrying about roads, bridges and tunnels, and companies get lucrative leases that allow them to collect money from drivers for generations. The craze is being driven by investors who crave the steady cash flow of decades' worth of tolls. There are 71 projects worth $104 billion being considered for private development by state and local governments, according to the publication Public Works Financing. The proposals are feeding a new pack of investment funds from the likes of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and the Carlyle Group--as well as controversy over how roads should be paid for.
....... At the core of the debate is a fundamental issue: Is building roads one of those things, like trade policy, that only the Federal Government should steer, or is there a better way?