It must have felt like fortune cookies falling from the sky.
If you were an Indiana resident, and your car came complete with an Illinois I-Pass transponder, you automatically received a discount when traveling through Illinois toll roads. You didn’t have to request anything; it came compliments from the state—like those delicious meal-ending treats at any traditional Chinese restaurant.
The process was smooth and gratifying until a couple of months ago. That’s when the Hoosiers threatened to crunch their neighbor’s generosity into tiny bits of shallowness. Indiana was preparing to ramp up its own electronic tolling mechanism, called I-Zoom, with its 157-mile stretch of the Indiana Toll Road, which was leased to Indiana Toll Road (ITR) Concession Inc. late last year. Politicians originally wanted to pull back the handout that would match the one offered in Illinois. When word crossed the border, that gracious hand flexed into a fist. Current discounts were about to be revoked. Friendly chopsticks were about to turn into lethal weapons.
First word on the street was ITR Concession Inc. was not planning on offering any kind of savings to any kind of transponder regardless of the state seal. As the private operator for the next 75 years, it seemed to be immune to the terminal viruses steaming off the state political process. After weeks of word throwing, Indiana finally became a fan of formula one, which allowed Illinois’ original 40% rebate to holders of both transponders.
Initially I thought it was a revolutionary breakthrough in this new world of privatization. Here the private investor realized how important it was to not put up this ugly fence between two neighbors. Then I read how the Indiana Finance Authority set aside $250 million out of the $3.8 billion lease payment of the Indiana Toll Road to compensate ITR’s precious investment. So, really, ITR is going to get its money anyway. So much for the welcome wagon, these guys would probably charge admission into a block party.
While attending the International Bridge Conference in Pittsburgh, several people asked my opinion on the recent development of public-private ventures and long-term leases. My stance hasn’t buckled since the first I learned of Chicago’s deal with the Skyway. It certainly is an attractive funding alternative, but time should have been taken to spell out the fine print of these deals.
We still need a string of “snow” days to lock ourselves into a room and warm up to this still-crazy idea of handing over stretches of roads to investors.
What happened between Illinois and Indiana should throw fluorescent disclaimers into every deal from here on out. Back when the first electronic toll system was set up in the U.S., the dream was to one day have a seamless system across the interstate system, a system that didn’t fall to transponder discrimination. Well, if one day that system is cluttered with private investors of different color then we might be facing a nightmare of political fighting.
The time is now for the federal government to step in and regulate this activity. Let authority be the hand that guides us. Hmmm, sounds like something out of a fortune cookie.
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