By EDIE GROSS
In the market for a toll road? How about a bridge over the Chesapeake Bay?
No one's erecting a For Sale sign on any of Virginia's major transportation facilities just yet, but House Speaker Bill Howell wants the state to at least consider the idea of selling off or leasing some properties to pay for other road projects.
Howell made the unorthodox suggestion yesterday during a transportation forum in Fredericksburg sponsored by the regional chamber of commerce.
"Just think what we could do if we sold the Dulles Toll Road and the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel and got a check for $3 billion," Howell said during a panel discussion at the Holiday Inn Select in Central Park.
"What could the commonwealth do with $3 billion? It's an exciting concept," he said.
Howell stressed that it's far from a done deal. But the Virginia Reform Initiative, a nonprofit set up by Howell last year to study ways to incorporate private-sector reforms into state business, is analyzing whether the state could benefit from such a proposal.
Howell pointed out that cash-strapped Chicago leased the Chicago Skyway bridge to a private consortium this year.
The city received a $1.8 billion check for the 99-year lease, enough to pay off the debt on the bridge and support other projects. Meanwhile, the consortium will operate and maintain the skyway but gets to keep any toll and concession revenue.
A lease like that wouldn't solve all of Virginia's transportation money woes, but it might provide a needed cash infusion, Howell said.
"It's very radical when you first hear about it," he said. "It's not going to fix [U.S.] 17 and Route 3. But it's going to free up money to fix 17 and 3."
Howell told the 100 or so people attending the forum that he's opposed to increasing the state's 17.5-cent gas tax, which has remained the same for nearly 20 years.
Other members of the panel suggested the state look at upping the gas tax as well as other creative solutions.
For instance, if the state sells the Dulles Toll Road and drivers have to pay higher tolls, what's the difference between that and paying higher gas taxes? asked Steve Haner, vice president of public policy for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
"Everybody sort of needs to think this through," he said.
And simply privatizing facilities isn't going to close the gap between what the state has and what it needs to meet transportation demands, said Bob Chase, president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance.
"You can sell this and sell that, get a billion here and a couple million there. The question is what do you get when you add all that up and what's the delta [difference]?" said Chase, a panelist. "I would tell you the delta between what you get and what you need is still a lot."
The VTrans2025 report, released late last year, identified $203 billion in transportation needs over the next 20 years, but only $95 billion in revenues.
In light of that shortfall, the Virginia Department of Transportation may begin to rely more on public-private partnerships to complete major projects.
Charlie Kilpatrick, the former Fredericksburg Residency engineer for VDOT who last year took a job managing construction projects for Silver Cos., said he supports that kind of cooperation.
"Many people ask me how it feels to be on the 'dark side.' Private industry's not the dark side," said Kilpatrick. "There are some different motivations. But I think those motivations can be paired up with local and state government to find some good solutions."
Other panelists included Charles McDaniel, chairman of Hilldrup Moving and Storage in Stafford, and Ben Wafle president of Quarles Petroleum and chairman of the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Some of the panelists urged those present to push elected officials to deal with transportation shortfalls, even if it means raising taxes.
"Sitting in traffic is a tax. It's a tax every business pays, every employee pays, every family pays, and you get nothing in return for that except stress and frustration," said Chase. "Take the politics off the table. Give us the best solutions, not the most politically correct solutions."
Howell said he wants lawmakers to look at new and innovative solutions. The analysis under way by the Virginia Reform Initiative should be ready for discussion in time for the 2006 General Assembly, he said.
"You can't do the same old thing the same old way, over and over again, and expect to get a new outcome," Howell said. "The same market force that took us from black rotary phones to cell phones and BlackBerrys we need to capture that and look at that in transportation."
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