More detail on three Florida lease-concession prospects

Florida DOT have provided us with some more detail on their assessment of the value of three possible toll facilities to be put out for bid by investors. We've got "Possible leases of existing toll facilities" a five page screed dated 2007-09-05. It says the Sunshine Skyway Toll Bridge in Tampa, Alligator Alley Naples to Ft Lauderdale, and Beachline East expressway are "most likely candidates for consideration."

The analysis is the first response to this summer's HB985 which gave the Florida DOT the authority to do longterm lease concessions with the private sector.

The FDOT paper says the $ numbers are based on a "very preliminary analysis."

It calculates high and low concession values based on movement to a market toll rate - that which maximizes net toll revenue - for the high estimate and 50% of the market rate for the lower.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

On the Sunshine Skyway bridge the toll for cars using a transponder is currently 75c whereas the market based toll is estimated to be twice that - $1.50 in 2008, rising to $3.00 in 2012 and $5.00 in 2017. Comparable toll bridges are given as the Golden Gate $2.50, Henry Hudson Bridge NYC $1.75 and Bronx Whitestone NYC $4.00.

Adopting full market pricing the Sunshine Skyway concession would generate $1,315m, but with caps limiting tolls to 50% of market rates $477m for a 50 year lease.

The Sunshine Skyway is described as a 28km (17.4mi) 4 lane expressway. It is designated I-275 and spans the mouth of Tampa Bay and is the most direct route for west Tampa area people to get to St Petersburg, Sarasota and points south.

Alligator Alley

125km (78 miles) long Alligator Alley the straight shot expressway designated I-75 between the Fort Lauderdale area and Naples on the Gulf Coast is a concession valued at $1,332m for full market tolls calculated at $4.00 for cars now vs the present toll of $2.00. The market rate could rise to $8 in year 5 and $10 in year 10.

At half market toll rates the road would bring an estimated $504m

Beachline East

This is the FDOT portion of a longer tollroad called the Beachline (formerly Bee Line) designated FL528 which has segments owned by the Orlando toll authority and Florida Turnpike Enterprise.

Tolls on the Beachline East currently 25c would rise to $1.00 by 2012 and $1.50 by 2017 under a market toll setting regime generating a concession fee of $321m. A half-market tolls concession would bring $140m the paper says.

Schedule

The paper lays out a possible schedule, major items of which are:

- 45 days of preparatory evaluation
- 30 days RFQ/proposal development (Done day 45)
- 15 days for shortlisting (Done day 45)
- 45 days development of RFP (Done day 90)
- 90 days for proposals to be developed (Done day 181)
- 45 days for final analysis (Done day 217)
- 30 days award of concession (Done day 247)
- 60 days for financial close (Done day 307)

Download text of "Possible leases of existing toll facilities" FDOT, 2007-09-05, 5 pages

TOLLROADSnews 2007-10-03