pennsylvania turnpike

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's implicit bid in the state's lease concession procurement is $5.3b, versus a likely top bid by private sector bidders in the range $9b to $13b. The $5.3b implicit bid is cited by the Commonwealth Foundation thinktank in Harrisburg today.
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Pennsylvania DOT has set a new deadline for bids on the Pennsylvania Turnpike concession at the end of this week. But while there is a real intention on the part of the state to make the new deadline stick it may slip again like last week's, according to people who can only be characterized as insiders.
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Governor Rendell's staff say the deadline for bids for a longterm concession on the Pennsylvania Turnpike have been pushed back. On April 16 they had said they wanted bids by the end of the month (this evening). Today they are saying the bids will be accepted up to a deadline as much as two weeks off - mid-May.

Qualified bidders are being asked for offers on a concession agreement the terms of which were outlined April 16.
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Jose Lopez head of Cintra in North America more than once has explained in his accented but very clear english his company's approach to bidding for toll concessions: "We study very hard, we examine every aspect, we bring in our experts, sometimes other experts, we do traffic and revenue studies, not just one sometimes we get another. We think about the risks, we look at the costs, what will it cost us to borrow, what is the rate of return our shareholders expect.

"We do lots of due diligence.
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It may look like a cantilevered sign gantry frame but don't let's be fooled so easily. Matt Neely, a security specialist thinks it has a resemblance to a Yagi antenna of the format that might be used in a directed energy weapon. He speculates that because it is pointing to the great white north this beam weapon is probably designed to fend off unfriendly Canadians.
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By October or November "America's First Superhighway" over 800km (500 miles) of storied tollroad and the one of the big four state tollroad networks in the US (the others: NY, NJ, IL) could be under day by day business management - IF the Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell gets the authorizing legislation needed.  read more »

A Reason Foundation report on the Pennsylvania Turnpike by Robert Poole (Bob) and myself (Peter Samuel) has got some attention. Bob did all the work and I got all the controversy!  read more »

Fitch raters say the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's financial plan under Act 44 may fail and higher than the promised toll increases may be needed:
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Reason Foundation has published a critique of the report on alternatives for the Pennsylvania Turnpike by three academics commissioned by the Democratic Caucus of the state house. The Reason critique is written by Robert Poole and myself and is an analysis of the profs report titled "For Whom the Road Tolls: Corporate Asset or Public Good" (FWTHT) authored by Gary J Gray, Penn State, University Park, Patrick J Cusatis, Penn State Harrisburg and John H Foote, Harvard.  read more »

A Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission spokesman says that Cintra has been getting privileged access to Turnpike information in the run up to a concession RFP as a result of influence by a former staffer to the state governor Ed Rendell.  read more »

A report commissioned by the Democratic Caucus of the state House slams Governor Rendell's proposed longterm lease/concession for the Pennsylvania Turnpike, claiming that a corporate concession will have a present value of only $14.8 billion vs the Turnpike Commission (PTC) under Act 44 being worth $22.8b to $26.5b at present value. (CORRECTION HERE 2008-03-04 12:30 We initially misread the report.  read more »

A 36 page bill, SB1280, has been introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate to privatize the business operations of the Pennsylvania Turnpike under a 50 year lease concession agreement. The text of the bill SB1280 is downloadable at the bottom of the page. It was introduced by Senator John Gordner, a Republican.  read more »

Rendell administration officials say they will be seeking proposals shortly for a longterm lease and concession on the Pennsylvania Turnpike based on limits set for the Turnpike Commission.

The concessionaires will bid on a concession similar to Act 44 that limits toll increases to  inflation indexation or 3%/yr on an annual basis after an initial 25% increase in tolls.
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Initially there seemed to be a lot going for the idea of tolling PA/I-80 but over-reaching by the Turnpike Commission now threatens its very existence. Key lawmakers in Pennsylvania are now moving to repeal Act 44 which underpins the Turnpike Commission's plans and are looking craft a compromise with the Rendell administration plan to get bids for a longterm lease/concession.
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There's talk in the legislature in Harrisburg about denying 'foreign' companies the right to bid for a concession on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. That would exclude most of the big bidders!

From what we hear the three big bids are likely to come from:

- Cintra and Macquarie

- Abertis, Deutsche Bank and Babcock & Brown
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Re: IWW union threat to picket Penn Pike Starbucks produces warning of tort action your article declared:

"The IWW was way left of the communists in calling for immediate and constant class struggle and the violent overthrow of capitalism. Anarchists."
 
I've been a member of the IWW since 1990. This sentence is quite inaccurate in several respects.
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