IN DEPTH: TRANSPORTATION
From the July 2, 2004 print edition
Maryland may shift gears to privatize
some road projects
Robert J. Terry
Contributing Writer
Maryland transportation officials want to partner with
businesses to reduce gridlock in a cash-strapped state that
has a $10.5 billion backlog of capital projects.
Teaming up on financing, construction, operation and
maintenance of highways in Maryland would enable
transportation officials to use time and money more
efficiently to tackle congestion, proponents say.
The Maryland State Highway Administration recently issued
a request for information on ways to organize the
public-private partnerships, an unprecedented move.
State officials are warning the companies they will not
get contracts based on their proposals, which were due June
18, nor will they be paid for the information. Some are
hesitant to part with trade secrets that will end up on the
public record, but just as many are willing to be part of a
new process if it means breaking the region's gridlock.
"Maybe I'll get something out of it," says Wes Guckert,
president of Baltimore-based Traffic Group, an engineering
and planning business. "But more importantly I think this is
a damn good thing for the state of Maryland."
Virginia recently awarded a fixed-price contract to a
company to maintain 251 miles of interstate highways.
Toll-road projects have proved to be especially amenable
to this kind of partnering. A recent Maryland Department of
Transportation proposal to create a network of "express"
toll lanes on heavily traveled highways is driving much of
the state's current fact-finding effort, say several
executives.
Joe Waggoner, a Maryland Transportation Authority deputy
executive secretary, says the effort is spurred by a variety
of projects. Transportation officials are looking into toll
lanes on the Baltimore Beltway, the Capital Beltway and
Interstate 95 north of Baltimore.
Because of Maryland's $1 billion budget deficit and a
disinclination to raise taxes to pay for new road
construction, the state Transportation Department says its
unfunded capital needs total $10.5 billion from fiscal 2005
to fiscal 2010.
