HARRISBURG – In a move that could open the door to additional revenue to meet the state’s transportation infrastructure needs, Gov. Edward G. Rendell said that a request for qualifications for potential bidders on a concession agreement to operate the Pennsylvania Turnpike will be posted online and circulated to the financial community and other interested parties.
“Act 44 provides a much needed boost for our highway, bridge and public transit programs, and my action today in no way minimizes the historic accomplishment the General Assembly delivered and I signed in July,” Rendell said. “The reality, however, is that opponents are lining up to fight tolls on I-80 and two congressmen already have added language in pending federal legislation that could destroy a significant portion of Act 44’s financial foundation.”
Potential bidders are required to respond to the RFQ by Oct. 1, providing the required information to PennDOT for review with the commonwealth’s financial adviser, Morgan Stanley. Each potential bidder is asked to submit detailed information about its team, its toll road operations experience and capabilities, its customer service record, its experience with safety issues and its financial capabilities. All RFQ responses will be made public.
“There’s a good chance this process will yield a sizeable bid for the right to operate and manage the Pennsylvania Turnpike,” the governor said. “If the high bid is large enough, I will take it to the General Assembly to consider whether it makes sense to adopt the required legislation needed to accept a bid and generate the extra revenue we still need to address bridge and other transportation needs.”
In its November 2006 report, the bipartisan Transportation Funding and Reform Commission recommended an annual investment of $1.7 billion a year to meet highway, bridge and public transit needs. Even at that level, the commission projected it would take 17 years to cut the percentage of structurally deficient bridges in Pennsylvania from 24 percent to the national average of approximately 11 percent.
“While Act 44 will produce significant new transportation revenue — on average, $945 million a year for the first 10 years — the amount still falls far short of the funding level the Transportation Funding and Reform Commission recommended,” Rendell said. “We are working with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to implement Act 44, but with all of the attention focused on the number of structurally deficient bridges this summer and the lingering opposition to Act 44, it strikes me as extremely prudent to further explore the public-private partnership possibilities. What’s the harm in knowing the real value of the asset?”
Pennsylvania has more than 6,000 structurally deficient bridges, the most of any state in the nation, and nearly 9,000 miles of highways in poor condition. PennDOT estimates the cost of repairing all of the structurally deficient bridges on the state system at approximately $11 billion.
“We have come very far this year in addressing the transportation funding crisis and I thank the General Assembly for its hard work in that regard,” the governor said. “I ask members to keep an open mind on the public-private partnership idea and to be prepared to consider that option again if we receive a bid that would greatly enhance our ability to fix our bridges and roads and support public transit systems. We owe it to tax payers to find out if more can be done to sure up our transportation infrastructure.”