Transportation News

Philadelphia—With Gov. Ed Rendell renewing a push to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike for up to 75 years, the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group (PennPIRG) warned of potential problems with turnpike privatization.

“The Turnpike is one of our most important public assets,” said James Browning, Director of PennPIRG. “Any lease should include safeguards that will protect public safety, preserve the rights of communities along the Turnpike, and give the Commonwealth fair value over the life of the lease. PennPIRG has identified several conditions that are necessary to ensure that a deal would retain control of transportation planning and management.

First, any deal must guarantee high safety and maintenance standards. No deal should include any provisions that would restrict construction or improvements on other public roads or mass transit, including improvements that might reduce toll-road traffic flow. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should retain all rights to widen or to refuse to widen any parts of the toll road in the future, as well as the right to decide how any widening would be conducted. Likewise, the Commonwealth should retain the right to close exits or open new exits.

Second, any deal must provide for meaningful public participation and transparency. For privatization to make sense for Pennsylvania, any agreement must contain a provision allowing the Commonwealth to reassess the deal in light of the public’s changing needs. The Commonwealth should retain the option to withdraw from the leasing arrangement every five years, or Pennsylvania could be stuck with an ineffective transportation policy for decades. Moreover, in any deal the devil will be in the details. The legislature must not approve authority to sign a deal until a final contract is on the table and can be adequately scrutinized.

Third, any deal must be fiscally responsible in the long term. A fiscally responsible privatization deal would be one with clear benefit to Pennsylvania over the entire length of the lease. Similarly, no deal should be signed if the same benefits could be obtained with the same toll schedule administered by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Authority. Short-term problems should not be given disproportionate consideration over long term costs and risks.