Private highways in the United States

There are many private highways in the United States.

The Lancaster Turnpike, begun in 1792 between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Lancaster, Pennsylvania was the first major American turnpike. According to Gerald Gunderson's "Privatization and the 19th-Century Turnpike", "In the first three decades of the 19th century Americans built more than 10,000 miles [16,000 km] of turnpikes, mostly in New England and the Middle Atlantic states. Relative to the economy at that time, this effort exceeded the post-World War II interstate highway system that present-day Americans assume had to be primarily planned and financed by the federal government". [Gunderson, Gerald: [http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj9n1/cj9n1-9.pdf Privatization and the 19th-Century Turnpike] , Cato Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1, Spring/Summer 1989.] Because electronics did not exist in that era, all tolls had to be collected by human cashiers at toll booths, creating high fixed costs that could only be covered by a large volume of traffic. As railroads and steamboats began to compete with the turnpikes, the companies started to shut down their less profitable routes or turn them over to governments.

The National Bridge Inventory lists roughly 2,200 privately owned highway bridges in 41 states and Puerto Rico. [ [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/BRIDGE/nbis/ Questions and Answers on National Bridge Inspection Standards ] ]

Indiana Toll Road

In what may serve as a "test case" for the privatization of other major highways in the United States, on June 29, 2006, the state of Indiana received $3.8 billion from a foreign consortium made up of the Spanish construction firm Cintra and the Macquarie Infrastructure Group of Australia, and in exchange the state ceded operation of the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road for the next 75 years to these outside corporations. The consortium will collect all the tolls.cite news|last=Schulman|first=Daniel|title=The Highwaymen|publisher="Mother Jones"|date=2007-01-01|url=http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/01/highwaymen.html|accessdate=2007-04-30]

Reedy Creek Improvement District

The Reedy Creek Improvement District, established in 1967, operates six-lane freeways in the Walt Disney World area near Orlando, Florida. Technically, the RCID is a public corporation administered by a five-member Board of Supervisors elected by area landowners. [ [http://www.state.fl.us/rcid/about.html About RCID] , Reedy Creek Improvement District.] However, through a carefully-constructed legal framework, Disney operates the roads and utilities as wholly owned subsidiaries, rather than as a public-private partnership.

Disney is the primary landowner and controls the remaining land through contractual arrangements. In this way, the company is able to hand-pick the landowning electorate. An Associated Press article notes, "Board members are non-Disney business people from central Florida and must own at least an acre [4,000 m²] in the district". [Schneider, Mike: [http://www.reedycreek.org/pressrelease_01_2004.html Disney Rescue Workers in Labor Dispute] , The Associated Press, Jan. 18, 2004.] A Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability report explains the contractual arrangement as follows: "Historically, each board member has been deeded approximately five acres [20,000 m²] of land by an affiliate of the Walt Disney World Co. . . . According to RCID officials, a Walt Disney World Co. affiliate has the exclusive option to purchase land back from board members at any time". [ [http://www.oppaga.state.fl.us/reports/pdf/0481rpt.pdf Central Florida's Reedy Creek Improvement District Has Wide-Ranging Authority] , Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, Report No. 04-81, Dec. 2004.] Landowners also have a right to recall board members before the completion of their four-year terms.

Financial arrangements are also circular. According to the RCID Finance Department, Walt Disney Co. is RCID's largest taxpayer, paying about 86% of the District's taxes in 2004. The remaining taxpayers are board members and lessees of property owned by Disney affiliates (e.g., House of Blues, Travelodge, and Hilton) paying ad valorem taxes. An American Prospect article notes, "Disney pays taxes to Reedy Creek, which gives the money straight back to Disney, and the circle is closed". [Wolf, Joshua: [http://www.rotten.com/library/travel/walt-disney-world/ Hidden Kingdom: Disney's Political Blueprint] , The American Prospect, Inc., Volume 6, Issue 21, Mar. 21, 1995.]

Dalton Highway

The Dalton Highway in Alaska was built in 1974 to allow construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. It runs 400 miles from near Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean. Rather than relieving congestion, the highway was built to allow access to the Prudhoe Bay oilfields, which before were inaccessible. Permits were required to drive it until 1995, but it is currently owned by the state of Alaska and open to the public. [ [http://fairbanks-alaska.com/dalton-highway.htm Dalton Highway, otherwise known as the Haul Road ] ]

California

AB 680, passed in 1989, allowed up to four private highway franchises to be granted. [http://www.ucop.edu/cprc/documents/tollroadbrf.pdf] France's largest private highway operator, Cofiroute, is involved in an experiment in Orange County, California, to privately finance road construction by building pay lanes down the median of a freeway, with rates that vary depending on the time of day and the day of the week. [http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=10753 U.S. Trails Europe In Developing Private Roads | National Center for Policy Analysis ] ]

The Riverside Freeway (SR 91) Express lanes were privately owned and operated by a private consortium (one of the members of which was Cofiroute) from 1995 to 2003. [http://www.octa.net/91_express.aspx OCTA - Overview ] ]

Dulles Greenway

The Dulles Greenway, Virginia's first private toll road since 1816, is a 14 mile (23 km) highway connecting Washington Dulles International Airport with Leesburg, Virginia. In 1988, the Virginia General Assembly authorized private development of toll roads. To take advantage of this opportunity, the Bryant/Crane family of Middleburg, Virginia, AIE, L.L.C., and Kellogg, Brown and Root of Houston, Texas joined together to form Toll Road Investors Partnership II (TRIP II). Brown & Root constructed the road with private funds, opening it for traffic on September 29, 1995. Autostrade International, a company with over 30 years of experience in the development, construction, maintenance, and operation of Italian toll road networks, formed an American subsidiary to take over operation of the Greenway. [ [http://www.dullesgreenway.com/cgi-bin/dgfacts.cfm?home=dg Dulles Greenway home page] .]

The Greenway has several methods of expediting traffic flow. Six traffic lanes, a uniform 65 mph (105 km/h) speed limit, and a complete absence of traffic lights keep traffic moving at a steady pace. In addition, electronic toll collection, using the Virginia Department of Transportation's Smart Tag system, enables Smart Tag lanes to "process five times as many vehicles per hour as conventional cash payment lanes". [http://www.dullesgreenway.com/cgi-bin/dginfo.cfm]

The Dulles Greenway charges a fixed amount for use of the road, regardless of whether the driver exits before driving the complete length of the Greenway. The behavior of the Greenway's operators appears to confirm theories about private road operation; they seem to increase tolls and invest in infrastructure as needed to maximize profits. In 2004, the operators won approval from the State Corporation Commission to increase tolls from $2.00 to $3.00 per car. [ [http://www.gmionline.org/fall1997.htm GMI Fall 1997 Growth Management Reporter ] ] In 2005, Tom Sines of TRIP II announced plans for widening the highway, adding two new exits, expanding the main toll plaza, building a ramp to the airport, and reconfiguring an exit as a cloverleaf interchange. [ [http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0305/211237.html Dulles Greenway Expanding] , ABCNews, Mar. 4, 2005.]

Texas

In early 2007, there were plans for a private developer, Cintra-Zachry, to invest $1.3 billion to build a 40-mile toll-funded southward extension to complete the "Trans-Texas Corridor." [ [http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=14162 TACKLING THE "TIME TAX" | National Center for Policy Analysis ] ] [ [http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=14013 LONG-TERM CONCESSIONS PAYING OFF | National Center for Policy Analysis ] ] However, also in 2007, the Texas legislature enacted legislation placing a two-year moratorium on private equity toll concessions. [ [http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/17/1700.asp Texas Toll Road Moratorium Proceeds ] ] [ [http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/38 Texas moratorium author, Sen Robert Nichols writes | Toll Roads News ] ]

Illinois

In 2006, Mayor Daley leased out the Chicago Skyway for 99 years for $1.8 billion. [ [http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=10191 SOCIALISM IN REVERSE | National Center for Policy Analysis ] ] The road had lost money for decades and only recently turned a profit. [ [http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=2662 TOLL ROADS WITH A CASH-OUT OPTION | National Center for Policy Analysis ] ]

Colorado

The Colorado legislature considered a bill to ban use of eminent domain to condemn private property for private highway construction. [http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics2006a/csl.nsf/billcontainers/1DCD8996AC225F53872570820070756A/$FILE/078_enr.pdf] [ [http://www.planetizen.com/node/21301 Toll Road Controversy Changes Colorado Law On Private Takings | Planetizen ] ] [ [http://www.northfortynews.com/Archive/A200507OwensVeto.htm Owens' veto puts toll road developer back on track ] ] Such legislation was vetoed in 2005, but a compromise bill was enacted into law in 2006. The new law requires toll road developers to get approval from cities and counties affected by a proposed road and requires projects to go through a transportation department approval process, complete with an environmental assessment. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20060201/ai_n16055171 Toll-road decision a victory, not end, for critics | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs) | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ]

The Super Slab is a proposed private highway that would run from north of Fort Collins to south of Pueblo. It sparked a debate on the use of eminent domain for such purposes. Opponents proposed the Castle Rock Alternative Parkway, which would run through the home of Super Slab developer Ray Wells. [Flynn, Kevin (May 5, 2005). [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3752809,00.html Parkway proposal is slap at Slab] . Rocky Mountain News.]

Toll roads to serve development

In addition to many private toll roads built to serve ordinary travel needs, some have been built to serve new housing developments. Those include the following:
*Adams Avenue Turnpike, Ogden, Utah
*Alabama River Parkway, Montgomery, Alabama
*Burnside Expressway, Halifax, Nova Scotia (proposed in Canada)
*Emerald Mountain Expressway, Montgomery, Alabama
*Foley Beach Expressway, Orange Beach, Alabama
*Poinciana Parkway, central Florida (proposed)
*Western Bypass, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

References