"Funnier that the thing conservatives dreamed of in the 1980's, privatizing non-essential governmental functions, is now itself a source of humor for ostensible conservatives."
If private companies were buying land and building roads, great. More power to them, and I would hope they make as much money possible.
However, what we have here is private companies (a) buying the right to run a monopoly for 50 years[once a toll road is built, even a government entity cannot build new roads that would compete with the toll road] and (b) using the power of the government to acquire land.
And that's different from a private company building/leasing/operating an airport or a sewage-treatment plant, how?