In an about face Congressman John Mica who for years has blocked the idea, is now suggesting leasing out our public roads to private companies:
State and local leaders, he (John Mica) said, need to search for new ways to raise money because the national gas tax is falling thanks to higher prices and more fuel-efficient vehicles. The Obama administration and the Congress, he added, also are committing more money to mass transit and less to roads. Probably the least popular idea floated by Mica is leasing Florida's Turnpike or the 105-mile toll system in Orlando that's owned and operated by the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority."I just don't think that's practical," Orlando lawyer Marco Marchena said of turning over the 460-mile Turnpike owned by the state to a private company. Marchena is a member and former chairman of the FTC, which sets policy for the Turnpike.
This stupid idea will most likely lead to higher tolls on our toll roads:
Crotty and Marchena said they worry that leasing, which could raise billions of
dollars, would result in giving up control of toll increases to a private
company and that the money raised by the transaction could go to the general
needs of government rather than building and maintaining more roads
