Ohio Turnpike will not be privatized.

[mukade]

Raising tolls is unpopular. Politicians couldn't stomach doing it themselves. They got someone to flash them some cash in exchange for taking profits over a longer period of time. Now the politicians don't have to raise tolls, or deal with toll hikes not playing well with voters. Plus, they get to look good for getting new roads built, and don't have to deal with the fallout until they're long out of office.

That's not leadership. That's passing the buck.

The ITR concession is not allowed to just raise tolls. There is a structure in place that was a part of the agreement. I think the plan to raise tolls on ITR was made very clear at the outset. That was one of the reasons there was some opposition.

As far as looking good, I suppose that might be because they delivered something the people wanted. I am not sure why that is a bad thing. Coming up with creative plans to effectively build roads given all the fiscal constraints we have is indeed good leadership.

Pretty sure all the new 4-lanes built across the state are more expensive to maintain than the 2 lane roads they replaced. And the roads the state sheds are thrown to the counties to maintain. They don't go away just because the state pawns them off.

Fact is, none of this gets to the core issue - Indiana legislators can't stomach raising fuel taxes to properly fund their road ambitions. There's no reason they couldn't do this except political will. By contrast, Wisconsin has been at work on a massive expansion of their major highways for the last two decades (WI-29, US-53, US-10, US-41, WI-26, US-151, etc), in large part funded by fuel taxes that are an extra dime or so per gallon.

First, I admire Wisconsin for building a great highway system. Just because Indiana found a different and creative way to accomplish part of their plans does not make what they did bad. I want every state to build good roads, and hopefully Ohio gets a substantial benefit from what they are doing.

The fuel taxes are a separate issue. For long term maintenance of all Indiana roads, something will have to be done, but it is not as easy as you imply. To give some context, Wisconsin ranks 14th on state gasoline tax rate paying 32.9 cents per gallon according to one group. In that same survey, Indiana ranks 7th at 38.9 cents per gallon, but another one puts the difference at 10 cents higher in Indiana. The difference is that Indiana pays sales tax on gasoline so bumping up the pure fuel tax is not going to be difficult. Seeing Indiana has been having budget surpluses and all taxpayers will get a refund because the surplus exceeded some amount, perhaps they need to tinker with the sales tax and adjust up the actual fuel tax. In any case, you can't just substantially raise the gas tax when total state taxes on fuel are already very high.

[sandwalk]

This is excellent news! As an Ohio native with most of my family living within a few miles of the Turnpike, I'm glad that most of the $$$ will be put toward projects in northern Ohio.  Seems only fair, as I-70 etc. in southern Ohio are toll-free.  After traveling the Ohio Turnpike, Indiana Toll Road, and Illinois Tollways between my current home and my hometown, I've noticed the quality of upkeep in Indiana fall off over the years.  The Hoosier state got lucky with all of that extra money, but those of us travelling on the ITR frequently will have to deal less-than-desirable road conditions.

[vdeane]

They could just, you know, stop having the sales tax on gas if it's causing such a surplus in the general fund.  Or here's a novel idea: divert the surplus in the general fund to the roads.  The horrors!

This is a classic example of paying for stuff now by taking from the future.  Politicians love this and the use of schemes like this in the 80s is why we have economic issues now.  We've already seen the quality of maintenance of the ITR go down, and that lease has just begun.

mukade, you seem to not understand that roads don't magically stop needing to be maintained just because an interstate got built next to them.  There is no magic wand that got waved - their maintenance costs are the same as they would have been without I-69.  In 20-30 years, the state is going to need to come up with the money to rebuild I-69 from the foundation, because roads only last that long.  They'll probably cop out and just keep resurfacing the road every 2 years while the foundation crumbles into dust like NY does though.  And what of other roads that will need to be built?  Road building is not something that you do once and they are set for the next century - it's ongoing.  Those projects are going to have no money.  All because the politicians couldn't grow a pair and do what's best for the state rather than what's best for their re-election campaigns.  Also note that IN is now prohibited from making road improvements of any kind within 10-20 miles of the ITR without the permission of the foreign investors.  What makes you think the foreign investors will grant permission?  Anything that has even a remote chance of being seen as cutting into the money stream that goes from tolls into their hot tubs of money will be denied.

[NE2]

Also note that IN is now prohibited from making road improvements of any kind within 10-20 miles of the ITR without the permission of the foreign investors.

All they can't do is build 20 miles of continuous freeway within 10 miles of the ITR. (Since the Michigan line is less than 10 miles away, that only prevents a parallel freeway.)

[Stephane Dumas]

Then if OH Tpk take new responsabilities, will it inherit the responsability to maintain some free roads like NYS Thruway did once with I-84 and I-287?

It's rare then I quote myself, sorry for the inconvience. ^^;

I just taught of a detail, could OH Tpk inherit some possible future HOT lanes projects in Ohio as well?

[StogieGuy7]

Hey look, we've got someone who doesn't understand logic.

I'm sorry to hear that logic escapes you.   

What I meant was that both sides are equally short-sighted when it comes to privatization. 

[cpzilliacus]

TOLLROADSnews: Ohio Turnpike (and Infrastructure) Commission votes to borrow $1.5b, celebrates no-P3, toll cap pledges, but debt costs to rise

The Ohio Turnpike commissioners have voted unanimously to support Governor John Kasich's "Ohio Jobs and Transportation Plan" which after fears of a longterm-lease and concession leaves the Turnpike as a state business. And the Turnpike gets the governor's blessing to borrow another $1.5 billion to be given out for free roads, enhancing its political role but sapping its financial strength.

In recognition of this larger debt the Turnpike gets an enlarged title becoming the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission.

The statement says that 90% of new bond money will go to northern Ohio highway projects including the Turnpike itself.

Legal counsel are under instructions to come up with a formal resolution to extol the virtue and the wisdom of Governor Kasich's  'Jobs and Transportation Plan' which commissioners will vote on at their next monthly meeting.

[cpzilliacus]

Fact is, none of this gets to the core issue - Indiana legislators can't stomach raising fuel taxes to properly fund their road ambitions. There's no reason they couldn't do this except political will. By contrast, Wisconsin has been at work on a massive expansion of their major highways for the last two decades (WI-29, US-53, US-10, US-41, WI-26, US-151, etc), in large part funded by fuel taxes that are an extra dime or so per gallon.

Politicians in Maryland and across the creek in Virginia have not been able to stomach an increase in motor fuel tax rates for a very long time (Maryland in 1992 and Virginia in 1986 (!)).

Even though both states have some extremely expensive rail transit that is (to varying degrees) subsidized by those fuel taxes.

[cpzilliacus]

TOLLROADSnews: In Fitch's fantasy world Kasich plan for Ohio Turnpike "conservative" won't affect rating COMMENT

Fitch Ratings say that an extra $1.5 billion in debt "is not expected to negatively impact the quality of existing OTC debt" and that they view the plan as "conservative." The money will be used for a mix of reconstruction and for off-Turnpike untolled projects.

Announcing his plan in mid-December Governor Kasich promised:

- no layoffs of Turnpike personnel

- a freeze on tolls on local trips, hikes on other trips capped at inflation for ten years

The first limits the ability of the Turnpike to lower costs, while the second means that overall toll rates will increase at less than inflation. And having imposed all these political commitments on the Turnpike the Governor has the effrontery to claim he has preserved the "independence" of the Turnpike Commission!

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

TOLLROADSnews: In Fitch's fantasy world Kasich plan for Ohio Turnpike "conservative" won't affect rating COMMENT

Fitch Ratings say that an extra $1.5 billion in debt "is not expected to negatively impact the quality of existing OTC debt" and that they view the plan as "conservative." The money will be used for a mix of reconstruction and for off-Turnpike untolled projects.

Announcing his plan in mid-December Governor Kasich promised:

- no layoffs of Turnpike personnel

- a freeze on tolls on local trips, hikes on other trips capped at inflation for ten years

The first limits the ability of the Turnpike to lower costs, while the second means that overall toll rates will increase at less than inflation. And having imposed all these political commitments on the Turnpike the Governor has the effrontery to claim he has preserved the "independence" of the Turnpike Commission!

Of course Kasich could lose his re-election bid, and someone else could come up with a better idea.