Today, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell announced the selection of the winning bid for the 75-year lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike–the $12.8 billion bid by Abertis and Citi Infrastructure Investors. That topped a $12.1 billion second place bid by Goldman Sachs and Transurban. If approved by the state legislature, the deal would become the largest toll road concession in the U.S., over triple the value of the $3.85 billion lease of the Indiana Toll Road in 2006. More details from TollRoadsNews.com. For Reason’s recent work on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, see here. UPDATE: See my new op-ed on the potential Turnpike lease here. The takeaway:
Now it’s decision time for legislators. Do they opt to generate more money to fund critical, long-term transportation needs by leasing the Turnpike to an experienced private-sector toll road operator? Or, do they stick with Act 44 and generate less money while expanding the size and power of an inefficient and unaccountable bureaucracy? There’s really only one responsible choice.