Recently in Transportation Category

Source: Reason Foundation, April 10, 2008

The Pennsylvania Turnpike is one of the country's least cost-efficient toll roads, spending a whopping 62.4 percent of its toll revenues on operating and maintenance costs. Of 35 toll roads studied, only the Massachusetts and West Virginia turnpikes spend a higher percentage of their toll revenues on operating costs, according to a new report by the Reason Foundation, a free market think tank that has advised the last four presidential administration on transportation issues.

By comparison, the New York State Thruway has 51 percent more lane miles and handles 83 percent more vehicle miles traveled than the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but its annual costs are $39 million lower.

Over the last seven years the Pennsylvania Turnpike's operating costs have more than doubled from $181 million in fiscal 2000 to $370 million in fiscal 2007. During that same time, the U.S. inflation rate was 23.4 percent, so the Turnpike's costs grew at 4.5 times the rate of inflation.

Source: BY FRAN SPIELMAN, Chicago Sun Times (IL), April 2, 2008

Six teams -- one including some of the same players who paid $1.82 billion to lease the Chicago Skyway -- will vie for the right to make Midway Airport the nation's first privately-run commercial airport.

....... Roughly $1.3 billion of the windfall will be used to pay off Midway Airport debt. Up to half of the net proceeds will be used to shore up under-funded city employee pension funds. The rest will be used to build libraries, parks, schools, museums, police and fire stations.

Source: By Bill Ruthhart, Indianapolis Star, March 31, 2008

Each of the 21 plazas on the Indiana Toll Road will offer electronic tolling starting Tuesday, but fees will be about double for commuters who do not use i-Zoom passes. The toll increases were scheduled as part of the June 2006 agreement by the state to lease the Northern Indiana highway to a private consortium for 75 years at a price tag of $3.8 billion.

Source: By Lyndsey Layton and Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post, Monday, March 17, 2008

...... For Gribbin, Duvall and Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, the goal is not just to combat congestion but to upend the traditional way transportation projects are funded in this country. They believe that tolls paid by motorists, not tax dollars, should be used to construct and maintain roads. They and other political appointees have spent the latter part of President Bush's two terms laboring behind the scenes to shrink the federal role in road-building and public transportation.

They have also sought to turn highways into commodities that can be sold or leased to private firms and used by motorists for a price. In Duvall and Gribbin's view, unleashing the private sector and introducing market forces could lead to innovation and more choices for the public, much as the breakup of AT&T transformed telecommunications.

Source: Paul Nussbaum, Philadelphia Inquirer (PA), Tue, Mar. 4, 2008

A study done for state House Democrats has concluded that it is unwise to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private operator, as Gov. Rendell hopes to do. Instead, the study supported the legislature's move to keep the Turnpike Commission, raise tolls on the turnpike, and introduce tolls on I-80. The study, by three experts from Pennsylvania State and Harvard Universities, is to be formally released today in Harrisburg.

Source: CUPE.com, February 26, 2008

A British government inquiry into a P3 to upgrade London's subway system concludes the scheme was a "spectacular failure".

In a report released late last month, the House of Commons Transport Committee said the private consortium's "pathetic underdelivery" should be a warning against future P3 contracts.

Source: BY KEITH BENMAN, Northwest Indiana Times (IN), Thursday, February 28, 2008 | 20 comment(s)

Gov. Mitch Daniels told a conservative Washington think tank on Monday that leasing Gary/Chicago International Airport to a private operator represents a "heck of an opportunity" for Gary.

Source: By Mary Beth Almond, C & G News (MI), Feb. 22.

Members of Birmingham Public Schools' custodial and transportation staff are up in arms about the district's exploration of possible changes to school services.

...... On Feb. 5, an alert from the Michigan American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 25 was placed next to the agenda outside the Board of Education meeting room for members of the community to pick up on their way into the meeting.

The flier, endorsed by Michigan AFSCME Council 25 President Albert Garrett and Secretary-Treasurer Lawrence A. Roehrig, stated, "As public school districts consider choosing moving forward with plans to privatize school services, they are treading a well-worn and ill-chosen path filled with pitfalls."

Source: STNG News Service (IL), February 13, 2008

Mayor Richard Daley's plan to privatize Midway Airport to generate billions to shore up city pensions and rebuild Chicago's aging infrastructure is cleared for take-off: Five of seven airlines have signed off on the deal, the first of its kind in the nation.

Source: Government Accountability Office, GAO-08-44 February 8, 2008

Highway public-private partnerships have resulted in advantages for state and local governments, such as obtaining new facilities and value from existing facilities without using public funding. The public can potentially obtain other benefits, such as sharing risks with the private sector, more efficient operations and management of facilities, and, through the use of tolling, increased mobility and more cost effective investment decisions. There are also potential costs and trade-offs--there is no "free" money in public-private partnerships and it is likely that tolls on a privately operated highway will increase to a greater extent than they would on a publicly operated toll road. There is also the risk of tolls being set that exceed the costs of the facility, including a reasonable rate of return, should a private concessionaire gain market power because of the lack of viable travel alternatives. Highway public-private partnerships are also potentially more costly to the public than traditional procurement methods and the public sector gives up a measure of control, such as the ability to influence toll rates. Finally, as with any highway project, there are multiple stakeholders and trade-offs in protecting the public interest.