Private Roads= American Infrastructure Armageddon?
Posted on January 8th, 2008 in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Last week’s issue of the Louisville Eccentric Observer included a story that opined about issues that the writer believed were underreported by the American news media.
A section of the story that criticizes the “privatization of American infrastructure.” Sounds like someone’s been listening to too many crackpot conspiracies on Coast to Coast AM:
Cheerleaders for privatization are deeply embedded in the Bush administration (see story 7), where they’ve been secretly fostering plans for a North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway, a 10-lane route set to run through the heart of the country and connect the Mexican and Canadian borders. It’s specifically designed to plug into the Mexican port of Lázaro Cárdenas, taking advantage of cheap labor by avoiding the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, whose members are traditionally tasked with unloading cargo, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, whose members transport that cargo that around the country.
What’s exactly wrong with public private partnerships? Government is too engrossed in squandering away billions on entitlement programs and pork barrel projects. When the day is done, government, rather it be local, state or federal, realize that without major tax increases they cannot repair roads or bridges. Some states have embraced innovative ideas in order to repair or build new infrastructure.
Indiana has benefited from the leasing of the Indiana toll road. In return for the lease to a private company, Indiana has received billions of dollars up front in order to help pay for other much needed road projects. In fact, Indiana already is offering up over a billion dollars for the much talked about new Ohio River bridges that will connect Indiana to Jefferson County:
Money from the Indiana Toll Road lease will help Indiana fund its $1.1 billion share of two new bridges that will span the Ohio River under a plan recently approved by the federal government.
The Federal Highway Administration this week gave the green light to the financial plan for the $4.1 billion joint project between Indiana and Kentucky, which is scheduled to start this year.
“It’s a big step and everyone is happy to be moving forward,” said Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman Andy Dietrick on Friday.
A bridge between Utica, Ind., and Jefferson County, Ky., is slated for completion by 2014. One connecting downtown Louisville with Jeffersonville, Ind., has a completion date of 2020.
Plans for the two bridges were a major factor in Gov. Mitch Daniels successful drive to gain statewide approval for the Toll Road lease from the Indiana General Assembly two years ago.
A foreign consortium paid Indiana $3.8 billion in June 2006 to lease and collect tolls on the Toll Road for 75 years. Indiana officials said the Ohio River bridge projects simply would not have been possible under the state’s traditional road funding program.
Most Kentucky politicians are still burbling about Kentucky’s “revenue problem” and are perplexed as to how Kentucky can chip in on Ohio River bridges funding. At least Senate President David Williams had filed a bill during the 2008 General Assembly session that discusses the possibility of KY looking into public-private partnerships for road projects.
Public-private partnerships could greatly benefit the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s infrastructure if applied correctly. But if public-private partnerships don’t take hold in Kentucky, then I guess it must be George W. Bush’s fault.
