US sec Mary Peters expresses strong support for Penn Pike lease concession

US secretary of transportation Mary Peters has expressed enthusiasm for the $12.8b Abertis/Citi proposal for a longterm lease concession of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It appears on Fast Lane", the official Blog of the Secretary: see http://fastlane.dot.gov/, scroll down to May 20:

Peters writes, and we reproduce it in full:

"Pennsylvania Receives Largest Ever Transportation Private Investment Bid

"Pennsylvania has received the largest bid for transportation infrastructure development investment in history. Coming in at almost $13 billion, the offer to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike and invest the proceeds in Pennsylvania’s infrastructure is a milestone. It represents over one-fourth of the annual amount the federal government has budgeted for highway construction.

"As I’ve mentioned before, it has been conservatively estimated that the private sector has over $400 billion available to invest in our nation’s infrastructure (on top of already-record levels of federal funding). It’s encouraging to see that a substantial amount of that money might be available soon to help Pennsylvania improve their transportation system.

"You can read more about the proposal, which Governor Rendell is supporting here.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20080520_Spanish_firm_submits_highest_turnpike_bid.html

"If the transaction is approved by the Pennsylvania Legislature, the operator would be subject to some of the most rigorous performance requirements of any road in the United States, rigid constraints on their ability to raise tolls, and a requirement to invest billions of dollars in the facility.

-Secretary Peters" end of blog item

Tolling I-80

Peters' only role in whether this goes ahead will be indirect - her decision on the state's application to toll I-80 as proposed by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

However it is unclear she has much discretionary power under US law.

A 'No' decision would clearly make the lease/concession much more attractive to legislators because the state would lose some $500m/year in payments promised by the Turnpike Commission.

TOLLROADSnews 2008-05-28