HOT lanes, in real life.
As reported last week, the locally reviled HOT lane proposal on I-77 in North Mecklenburg and South Iredell is moving forward. The NCDOT announced that Cintra Infraestructures, S.A, a Spanish firm specializing in transportation infrastructure, was the apparent winning bidder for the project.
The press release for the NCDOT gave limited details, and to date no copy of the proposed contract is available to the public even though it is expected to be signed by June.
Apparently sharing details with the public would “jeopardize” it. We can only speculate as to why. It must be bad. Very bad.
We already know that this “attractive proposal” involves giving away an existing taxpayer funded Interstate lane and providing $88 million in taxpayer money. We also know that the plan really doesn’t address congestion issues in any meaningful way. To the contrary, congestion is assured so as to maximize the return on investment for Cintra over the course of its likely lengthy (as high as 50 year) contract. The more congestion on the general purpose lanes, the higher the toll that can be charged.
Putting all this aside, some very basic Google searches put into question the viability of this company.
“The Wall Street Journal is reporting the Indiana Toll Road is again facing pressure from bondholders, with its controlling partners facing a possible debt restructuring, perhaps in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Journal in an article last week cited people familiar with the matter in reporting a European bank recently sold $500 million of Indiana Toll Road debt to outside investors for 60 cents on the dollar.
“Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the ratings of the SH 130 Concession Company, LLC (“the Project”) to Caa3 from B1, including the Senior Bank Facility with $686 million outstanding and the subordinate Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan with $493 million outstanding. The rating outlook is negative.
Around the country, HOT lanes and other toll projects are simply not living up to expectations. At least two of these failed projects are owned by the same company North Carolina is ready to partner with.
Will the contract NC signs be favorable to the taxpayers, or like Texas will it privatize the profits while subsidizing the risk…all for a project that doesn’t really improve commuting time for a vast majority of travelers?
We won’t know until we can see the contract.
It would seem that communication should be directed to the JLTOC. Let them know that significant public opposition continues to exist for this project and that as a matter of value for dollars spent, a general purpose lane option should be seriously vetted before any contracts are signed.
The following are the members and their email addresses.