GAO Cites Risks to Public-Private Partnerships
While there are some benefits, the risks associated with public-private highway partnership agreements range from higher tolls and traffic diversion to political trade-offs and potential tax losses, according to a report issued by the Government Accountability Office.
Such partnership agreements for building toll roads are not “risk free,” the report said. GAO released the report, “Highway Public-Private Partnerships: More Rigorous Up-front Analysis Could Better Secure Potential Benefits and Protect the Public Interest,” on Friday.
There are also potential costs and trade-offs, and there is no “free” money in public-private partnerships, and it is likely that tolls on a privately operated highway will increase to a greater extent than they would on a publicly operated toll road, the report said.
GAO studied several high profile public-private agreements, including the $3.8 billion 75-year lease of the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road.
American Trucking Associations applauded the report’s cautions on higher prices for traveling the nation’s highways.
“Schemes such as the privatization and tolling of existing highway infrastructure will result in Americans paying a significantly higher price to access our highway system while receiving less in the form of safe, efficient, and reliable roadways,” said ATA President Bill Graves.
“It’s an important development to have the GAO acknowledge that such funding mechanisms are not in the best interest of the American taxpayers,” he said in a statement.
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