So, who owns the road you’re driving on? (That’s a sort of rhetorical question. I hope you’re not driving while you’re reading this.)
Most of the time, you’d think it was the state or municipality where you’re driving. If you’re on the Indiana Toll Road, also known as I-80/I-90, well, you’d be wrong. An Australian-Spanish partnership recently paid $3.8 billion to lease the route from Indiana. The same group last year bought a 99-year lease on the eight-mile Chicago Skyway for $1.83 billion.
As far as I can tell, the government is still responsible for upkeep (snow plowing, maintanance, etc. So what’s the benefit? The governments receive immediate cash for other projects. But they lose the ongoing income that the tolls would provide. Granted, the federal highway fund is projected to be empty in about 5 years, so states are looking for ways to raise highway funds. But is this fiscally safe?
Orange County, California built a road in 1995 in conjunction with a French company. When OC realized they needed to expand their roads, they were blocked by the terms of the lease, so they had to buy out the lease. For $207.5 million.
This Fox News article goes into great detail. I’m not convinced outsourcing roads to a foreign company is the right thing to do. Libertarians often talk of private companies building roads and outsourcing other government functions. It’s probably not a bad idea, but let’s be careful how it’s done.
