Posted on 12/07/2006 6:24:52 PM PST by Kid Shelleen
Available for sale or lease: Historic, 359-mile toll road. Guaranteed income. Heavily worn; needs TLC. Work force of thousands included. See Gov. Rendell for details.
Yes, the Pennsylvania Turnpike is up for grabs.
Scrounging for transportation funding amid the no-new-taxes atmosphere of Harrisburg, Rendell officially invited suitors yesterday to make an offer for the venerable tollway.
"There is only one option that is not on the table - and that is doing nothing," Rendell said of Pennsylvania's quest to find almost $2 billion more each year to bolster its roads, bridges, and public transit system
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
He might have got the idea from Ken Blackwell of Ohio
How much for that Liberty Bell?
Rendell is a miserable governor.
I've got a relative in Pa. The roads could use some attention IMO. I remember the first time I tried to find his house. More than half of the street signs I was supposed to use were either missing or faded to green with sporadic white sprinkles left. It was interesting. :)
Cut some of your State welfare programs.
We sold a highway here in the hoosier state.
PA needs to make it free and get rid of all the toll collectors and their management.
Who got the idea from Mitch Daniels in Indiana.
Pols aren't going to leave 3 to 6 billion dollars laying around untouched.
I wonder how much his kid will make on that deal?
Scrap the tolls. Make it free
PA needs to make it free and get rid of all the toll collectors and their management.
The toll collectors went on strike last year and now start at $23+ per hour to do less work than the McDonalds cashiers.
I guess if a private company can get a 50-100 year lease, the union people will eventually die off. I would not invest in such a scheme.
And it works....$500,000 a day in interest, going right back into those union highway projects around the state,.
The PA turnpike was the first eisenhower interstate.
Still collecting tolls.
I'd say, they owe the US a refund.
BTW, the romans built better roads, than those idiots in PA. Water? Let it puddle in the middle, and freeze. Then we can rebuild it, and charge for that.
Building bad roads in PA is a jobs program.
Several Republican mayors endorsed him. As governors go, I think he is more conservative than Arnold.
I can't stand Rendell, but I atually think it's a good idea.
That's "actually."
Rendell is trying to pull a scam here, as I see it.
Selling the Turnpike is an idea with a lot of merit. But what the politicians want to do is to sell it to their friends for cheap so their friends can make money. They tried the same with the liquor stores several years back, Ridge wanted to sell them for a pittance compared to the money they earn.
Auction it off to the highest bidder, same with the liquor store system. That would make economic sense. Finding friends to favor with the sale is just theft.
True. Yet Pennsylvania is in worse shape than it has been in years. Rendell is doing a lousy job.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.