A key Pennsylvania state lawmaker said that a plan backed by Gov. Ed Rendell to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike is essentially dead, the Associated Press reported.
State Rep. Joseph Markosek (D), who chairs the Pennsylvania House Transportation Committee, said Rendell’s plan to lease the roadway will not get a vote in his committee or on the House floor, AP said.
The $12.8 billion, 75-year lease plan backed by Rendell (D) would be the nation’s largest infrastructure deal, AP said. The winning bid for the project was submitted by a unit of Citigroup Inc. and a Spanish company in May. (Click here for previous coverage.)
But Markosek said there is little support for the deal in the House and that he wanted to focus on other aspects of state transportation policy, AP reported.
He called the proposal a bad financial deal that will not be worth pursuing even if the federal government does not approve adding tolls to Interstate 80, under a law passed last summer, AP said.
The Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association voiced concerns about the proposed Turnpike project in May, saying PMTA would continue “to advocate for viable, long-term alternatives that will put the public’s best interest ahead of the for-profit drive of a private entity.”
