FLORIDA:Privatization studied

State owned toll road systems have been successfully privatized in Ontario Canada (407-ETR), Italy (Autostrade) and France. Many new toll roads have been built by investor-owned entities in Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. There are about ten in the US, most quite small.

Advantages of privatization could include:

•proceeds for the state from a sale running into several billion dollars

• a more business-oriented management style and organization

• the ability of a business entity to reorganize and build or buy toll projects outside Florida

Disadvantages would be seen as:

• loss of direct political control over the turnpike’s personnel and policies

• loss of the opportunity to leverage the profitable parts of the turnpike to get non-profitable tollroads, the ‘pork pikes’ to be built in your district

• dilemmas over how to regulate the investor-tollroad (or tollroads)

Governor Jeb Bush has moved quite decisively to reduce waste in the state’s transport budget. On gaining office one of his first acts was to reject proposals that the state assume the major financial risks for a grandiose highspeed rail scheme Miami-Orlando-Tampa.

Now he wants to hive off major existing activities of the DOT. The secretary Tom Berry has told employees to be prepared for major changes in the way the department works, including major reassignments and downsizing.

A list of changes being planned includes:

• construction specification for all new works will within three years be routinely assigned to consultants who will be the legal Engineer of Record

• the state will withdraw from airport ownership, encouraging privatization

• permitting of state roads will be devolved to local government

On the turnpike a Berry briefing note we have been given says simply: “Turnpike, looking into organizational alternatives. Including the feasibility of selling the Turnpike.”

HISTORY: The major parts of the Florida turnpike were built by a Florida State Turnpike Authority formed in 1953, which opened its first section of turnpike to traffic in 1957. In 1969 in an attempt to gain greater control the legislature abolished the Turnpike Authority and made it the Office of Florida’s Turnpike within the state DOT. It later became a functional ‘District’ of the FDOT akin to one of the dozen regional districts.

Until this year the Turnpike District staff was headquartered in the state capital Tallahassee in the panhandle in the far north of the state and quite remote from the turnpike. However within weeks they will move into splendid new head offices located adjacent to a central service plaza on the mainline of the turnpike at Turkey Lake in the Orlando area.

Control of the turnpike is divided with planning, construction and maintenance being conducted by the Turnpike District and toll collection under the control of the separate Office of Toll Operations. OTO has more than halved its salaried staff and introduced contract toll collection. By contrast with a smooth and well-managed transition to contracted cash collection, FDOT/OTO’s introduction of the electronic toll collection system SunPass has been very troubled.

Three regional toll agencies are in open revolt against the state DOT’s implementation of SunPass, the attempt to get a single statewide system. In Orlando the largest regional toll agency OOCEA will not adopt SunPass. And the second Miami-Dade is exploring developing its own system. (Contact Kim Poulton, 954 975 4855x1104 www.flroads.com)