Developer announces west Alabama toll road

[2Co5_14]

I first heard of this proposal at my job:

A Pennsylvania company announced plans Tuesday to build a toll road from the Alabama coast to the Tennessee line, which came as a surprise to state and Shoals officials.
Real estate developer Shah Mathias, CEO of Ameri-Metro in York, Pa., said the $7 billion project is the first of its kind for his company. He has mostly been involved in residential and commercial projects in Pennsylvania.
In addition to the 300-mile toll road, the plan he unveiled Tuesday includes a rail line accompanying the toll road, the largest inland port in America, and an airport larger than any in Alabama.
He said the company is working on the exact route for the 300-mile toll road project, but he is looking at connecting the Orange Beach area to near Loretto, Tenn., which is 20 miles northeast of Florence. Mathias said he hopes to begin acquiring land in six months and have portions of the toll road open in 2014 or 2015.
"It will create commerce and job opportunities," he said in a phone interview.
Several local officials and state legislators contacted by the TimesDaily said they had not heard of the plan.
...
Mathias is working with the nonprofit Alabama Toll Facilities Inc. and used a well-known Montgomery political consultant, Brent Buchanan, to arrange his announcement Tuesday. Mathias said he plans to finance the project with bonds, adding it would not require any state tax dollars.
(portion of article from TimesDaily.com)

This link has a more in-depth discussion of the route & feasibility of the project:
http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/5490

This link shows a rendering of an elaborate train station in the median of the tollway:
http://www.ameri-metro.com/images/stories/train-station.jpg

I personally think it's a waste of money that will never generate enough vehicle or air traffic to pay the developer back.  Most people would rather use I-65 for free. And the north end of it is in the middle of nowhere (sorry to any residents of Loretto,TN!). What do you think?

line breaks?

[3467]

There have been a couple of studies in Illinois that were somewhat similar and I mean somewhat because those studies had cities like Kansas City and St Louis as termini and neither cut it so I think this is just fantasy.

[froggie]

We've been discussing it in the Mobile-Baldwin thread.

[2Co5_14]

We've been discussing it in the Mobile-Baldwin thread.

OK-thanks

The comments in that thread confirmed my suspicions: it sounded too bad to be true...

[3467]

You are Welcome I read the Mobile Baldwin Thread and it looks like some sort of penny stock operation/
The old Illinois study for what would have been an I-24 extension found that a toll road needs 30,000 vpd to be self sufficient.
I dont know your volumes in the south like I do the Midwest but there really arent a lot of corridors ouside the metros that could support a tollway.

[codyg1985]

You are Welcome I read the Mobile Baldwin Thread and it looks like some sort of penny stock operation/
The old Illinois study for what would have been an I-24 extension found that a toll road needs 30,000 vpd to be self sufficient.
I dont know your volumes in the south like I do the Midwest but there really arent a lot of corridors ouside the metros that could support a tollway.

Considering that this toll road by itself will only connect the Shoals with Mobile, I don't really see it getting a lot of traffic. I even question how much it would be used if the inland port and airport were built somewhere along it's route. I think for the inland port to be really effective it should be located somewhere between Memphis and Louisville, but that is beyond the scope of the project. I say that if the road went further north and connected with maybe Chicago, Louisville, or St. Louis then it MAY have enough traffic to warrant its construction.

As I said in the other thread, this proposal makes a lot more sense as a relief route for heavy trucking routes such as I-70 or I-81.

[Alex]

Toll road a "˜fantasy'

At least one web site that follows toll road developments nationally pronounced itself "skeptical"  of the Ameri-Metro proposal. Tollroadnews.com cited a list of more promising developments which either were never built or were built and couldn't repay investors.

Peter Samuel, the web site's editor, generally excoriated Alabama reporters for being too "gung-ho enthusiastic"  about the announcement.

"There is nothing "˜at the Tennessee state line' as they define the northern terminus,"  Samuel wrote. "And how big is the traffic they might attract? Had they done any traffic and revenue studies? No, they said, because the purpose of the toll road is not to cater to existing traffic but to generate new traffic in conjunction with a major new "˜inland port.' ... But there is no analysis presented on any special advantages of an inland port along the west Alabama route as compared with established airfields and logistics centers. Somehow or other it would "create commerce and job opportunities."

"We think it's a fantasy, but if they can find investors and get the permits, good luck to them,"  Samuel concluded.