After Chicago received $1.83 billion to lease the Chicago Skyway and Indiana received $3.85 billion for the Indiana Tollway — both significantly more than expected — other cities and states got interested in public-private partnerships for their tollways. But now a backlash has set in and some advocates of private tollroad operations are facing strong resistance.
A recent poll by AAA (which, ironically, has not strongly supported congestion relief for urban motorists) found that 70 percent of Pennsylvania and New Jersey drives oppose selling public tollroads to private operators. But this is a deceptive poll, because no one is proposing to sell the roads. The poll found that only 40 percent opposed leasing the roads.
Such polls always depend on how they are worded. What if AAA had asked, “Would you support leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private operator who would quickly act to relieve congestion and allow you to get to work faster?” I suspect support would be a lot greater than 60 percent.
Are we willing to pay the cost for less congestion? Flickr photo by Lull_in_Traffic.
