Senate committee likes freeway-toll-lane measure

The Associated Press

2/20/2008

PHOENIX — Tolls could be coming to Arizona as another way of paying for badly needed roads.

The Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday voted to require the state to work with private businesses to convert car pool lanes on Arizona 51, the popular north-south freeway, into toll lanes.

Driving alone would cost you, while carpoolers could ride for free or pay a reduced fee.

Under the measure, the state could do the same with car pool lanes on other state freeways as well.

The bill still faces votes by the full Senate and House and approval from the governor before becoming law.

Arizona lawmakers have been wrestling with a cluster of bills that would turn over control of some state freeways and other transportation projects to private companies.

The debate is being driven by traffic congestion and the state's struggle to pay for rising transportation costs with gas-tax funds.

In addition to toll lanes, Senate Transportation Committee members voted to privatize highway rest areas and construct new lanes on existing freeways.

But the panel held back from supporting controversial legislation that would allow private companies to build and manage toll roads in Arizona.

Supporters said such public-private partnerships reduce risks for the public, allow projects to be finished quicker and open doors to untapped financing sources, such as pension funds and insurance companies. “The private sector brings money and some creativity to these projects,” said former Virginia Transportation Secretary Shirley Ybarra, an analyst for the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based think tank.

Ybarra and other supporters encountered intense questioning from Sen. Robert Blendu, R-Litchfield Park. He argued that despite private partnerships, taxpayers will still be on the hook for transportation costs.