But is there another way to get the job done, then the typical experience of having politicians throw around huge amounts of tax dollars, and hoping that at least some of that money does not get wasted and actually funds something worthwhile in a cost-effective way?
Well, consider a March 9 Wall Street Journal article titled “Highway Upgrade Goes Private.” The piece notes:
Cash-strapped Florida is paying a private contractor to fix up and operate a toll road instead of doing the work itself -- and other states might follow.
In a deal struck last week, a Spanish-led group will be paid as much as $1.8 billion over 35 years to design, build, operate and maintain three new toll lanes along traffic-clogged Interstate 595 near Fort Lauderdale. The agreement came as something of a surprise during a period of turmoil in credit markets, and many experts called it a model for how states and private investors can work together to upgrade the nation's aging roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure.
"This project is a harbinger of what we may be seeing over the next decade or so, as we don't have enough money for major construction," said Robert Poole, director of transportation studies at the Reason Foundation, a free-market think tank.
The Journal also noted: “Florida's funding issue is a microcosm of a national problem, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said the government should support public-private partnerships as one way to solve it.”
Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
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