From a lengthy story in the Evansville
Courier & Press:
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels
said Thursday he is "astonished" that other states haven't followed
Indiana's lead in forging public-private partnerships to fund and operate major
infrastructure projects.
Speaking at a round-table discussion on
transportation sponsored by Reason magazine, a libertarian publication, Daniels
asserted the state's Major Moves initiative has given it a decided economic
advantage.
Daniels, said he thought the state's decision
to contract with the Indiana Toll Road Concession Co. to operate the Indiana
East-West Toll Road for 75 years in exchange for $3.8 billion would be copied
by other states "because it's so obvious and so logical."
"Six years later and they haven't,"
Daniels said. Citing a roiling national crisis in funding infrastructure
repairs, the governor said, "We're never going to get there the
old-fashioned way alone."
"We just vaulted ahead of every other
state and did a lot of catch-up work," Daniels said.
The toll road deal, consummated in 2006,
resulted in the creation of Major Moves, a plan to fund crucial Hoosier
infrastructure projects. One initiative that benefited from the agreement was
the ongoing construction of Interstate 69 between Evansville and Indianapolis.
Daniels said "there would have been no
way" for the state to come up with the cash necessary to complete the I-69
extension without the toll road deal. If the project had preceded steps would
have been necessary to pay for it — perhaps transforming it into a toll road
itself.
…
See the full story here:
Earlier posts on the Toll Road Lease:
http://indianapropertytaxreporter.blogspot.com/2012/05/more-on-toll-road-lease-continues-to.html
http://indianapropertytaxreporter.blogspot.com/2012/05/indiana-toll-road-lease-still.html
