As Virginia’s General Assembly continues its record-shattering bickering session over how to pay for transportation fixes, private companies are spending billions of dollars to buy toll roads here and across the country and pledging to build more.
Transurban Group, Australia’s second-largest toll road owner, last week agreed to lease the Pocahontas Parkway in Richmond for $611 million for 99 years, gaining its first U.S. highway. The company is also part of a consortium ready to spend $913 million to build High Occupancy Toll, or HOT, lanes on Interstate 95 from the 14th Street Bridge to Massaponax and another $900 million to add the lanes to portions of the Interstate 495 Beltway. The company also bid for operating rights for the Dulles Toll Road last year.
Last year, Australia’s Macquarie Bank acquired the Dulles Greenway. Macquarie and Cintra, a Spanish company, recently partnered to lease the 7.8-mile elevated Chicago Skyway and the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road for $5.68 billion.
Virginia Department of Transportation Chief Financial Officer Barbara Reese said recent projects are part of a national trend that is expected to spur more than $200 billion in foreign investment to help cash-strapped states. There is already $25 billion in proposals nationally, analysts say.
Virginia has been among the nation’s most aggressive in seeking public-private partnerships, and unlike U.S. companies who “want to get in and get out with their profits,” foreign companies look more “long-term” and are willing to look “40, 50, 80 or even 100 years into the future,” Reese said.
Unlike the Indiana and Chicago deals, which mainly involved only large upfront payments, Reese said Virginia could receive a portion of toll revenue from the Pocahontas if profits exceed pre-negotiated levels. Reese said a similar arrangement is being considered for the HOT lane proposals.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta lauded the trend Wednesday but urged more U.S. companies to hop on board.
“We know that many private firms are literally knocking on doors in state capitals across the country, willing to invest billions of dollars in transportation projects,” Mineta said. “While many of these firms are international, we believe that transportation infrastructure will be an increasingly attractive opportunity for American investors.”
Private aid, public works
» VDOT says there currentlyare nine private-public partnerships either under way or in the works.
» Texas has launched an ambitious private-sector plan to lay 4,000 miles of new toll roads, mainly funded by foreign investors.
» Virginia has the country’s third-largest highway system.
