Should the states lease their toll roads to the private sector?

[skluth]

I'm with Gnutella. NO! I don't object to the private sector building and operating toll roads, bridges, etc, as long as the public doesn't have to pay for any of it, including the ROW. If a business needs government help to have a profit, it's a welfare recipient.

[cpzilliacus]

I'm with Gnutella. NO! I don't object to the private sector building and operating toll roads, bridges, etc, as long as the public doesn't have to pay for any of it, including the ROW. If a business needs government help to have a profit, it's a welfare recipient.

I have mixed feelings about such projects.  Regarding right-of-way, if the project involves building toll lanes parallel to an existing "free" road (the original toll lanes on CA-91 (Riverside Freeway) were an example of that; as are the under construction I-66 managed lanes in Northern Virginia between U.S. 29 at Gainesville and I-495), then public right-of-way is nearly always involved.

[CtrlAltDel]

I am generally unsupportive of private ownership of what are essentially public goods. It tends to devolve into competing, and potentially opposing, priorities that cause unnecessary friction and inflexibility, as seen in the fiasco that is the Ambassador Bridge and its replacement.