Private highways in the United States
Encyclopedia
Private highway
A private highway is a highway owned and operated for profit by private industry. Private highways are common in Asia and Europe; in addition, a few have been built in the United States on an experimental basis...
s in the United States.
The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike
Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike
The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, first used in 1795, is the first long-distance paved road built in the United States, according to engineered plans and specifications. It links Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia at 34th Street, stretching for sixty-two miles. However, the western...
, begun in 1792 between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
and Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
was the first major American turnpike. According to Gerald Gunderson's Privatization and the 19th-Century Turnpike, "In the first three decades of the 19th century Americans built more than 10,000 miles [16,000 km] of turnpikes
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
, mostly in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and the Middle Atlantic states. Relative to the economy at that time, this effort exceeded the post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
interstate highway system that present-day Americans assume had to be primarily planned and financed by the federal government". Because electronics did not exist in that era, all tolls had to be collected by human cashiers at toll booths, creating high fixed costs that could only be covered by a large volume of traffic. As railroads and steamboats began to compete with the turnpikes, the companies started to shut down their less profitable routes or turn them over to governments. (See :Category:Pre-freeway turnpikes in the United States for a listing.)
The National Bridge Inventory
National Bridge Inventory
The National Bridge Inventory is a database, compiled by the Federal Highway Administration, with information on all bridges and tunnels in the United States that have roads passing above or below. This is similar to the grade crossing identifier number database compiled by the Federal Railroad...
lists roughly 2,200 privately owned highway bridges in 41 states and Puerto Rico.
Indiana Toll Road
In what may serve as a "test case" for the privatization of other major highways in the United States, on June 29, 2006, the state of IndianaIndiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
received $3.8 billion from a foreign consortium made up of the Spanish construction firm Cintra
Cintra
Cintra, S.A. is one of the largest private developers of transport infrastructure in the world. Its assets are fundamentally toll roads and car parks, in which it has a total investment of €16billion...
and the Macquarie Infrastructure Group
Macquarie Infrastructure Group
Intoll Group, formerly Macquarie Infrastructure Group currently owns and manages a 25.0% interest in the Westlink M7 to the west of Sydney in Australia and a 30% interest in the 108 km-long Highway 407/ETR in the Greater Toronto Area of Canada,...
of Australia, and in exchange the state ceded operation of the 157 miles (252.7 km) Indiana Toll Road for the next 75 years to these outside corporations. The consortium will collect all the tolls.
Reedy Creek Improvement District
The Reedy Creek Improvement DistrictReedy Creek Improvement District
The Reedy Creek Improvement District is the immediate governing jurisdiction for the land of the Walt Disney World Resort. As of the late 1990s, it comprised an area of within the outer limits of Orange and Osceola counties in Florida...
, established in 1967, operates six-lane freeways in the Walt Disney World area near Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
. Technically, the RCID is a public corporation administered by a five-member Board of Supervisors elected by area landowners. However, through a carefully constructed legal framework, Disney operates the roads and utilities as wholly owned subsidiaries, rather than as a public-private partnership.
Disney is the primary landowner and controls the remaining land through contractual arrangements. In this way, the company is able to hand-pick the landowning electorate. An Associated Press article notes, "Board members are non-Disney business people from central Florida and must own at least an acre [4,000 m²] in the district". A Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability report explains the contractual arrangement as follows: "Historically, each board member has been deeded approximately five acres [20,000 m²] of land by an affiliate of the Walt Disney World Co. . . . According to RCID officials, a Walt Disney World Co. affiliate has the exclusive option to purchase land back from board members at any time". Landowners also have a right to recall
Recall election
A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...
board members before the completion of their four-year terms.
Financial arrangements are also circular. According to the RCID Finance Department, Walt Disney Co. is RCID's largest taxpayer, paying about 86% of the District's taxes in 2004. The remaining taxpayers are board members and lessees of property owned by Disney affiliates (e.g., House of Blues
House of Blues
House of Blues is a chain of 13 live music concert halls and restaurants in major markets throughout the United States. House of Blues first location was in Cambridge's Harvard Square. It was opened in 1992 by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, star of The Blues Brothers...
, Travelodge
Travelodge
Travelodge refers to several hotel chains around the world. Current operations include: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand and Australia...
, and Hilton
Hilton Hotels Corporation
Hilton Worldwide is a global hospitality company. It is owned by the Blackstone Group, a private equity firm. As of July 2011 Hilton brands encompass 3,750 hotels with over 600,000 rooms in 84 countries...
) paying ad valorem taxes. An American Prospect article notes, "Disney pays taxes to Reedy Creek, which gives the money straight back to Disney, and the circle is closed".
Dalton Highway
The Dalton HighwayDalton Highway
The James W. Dalton Highway, usually Dalton Highway is a 414-mile road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse near the Arctic Ocean and the Prudhoe Bay oil fields...
in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
was built in 1974 to allow construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
The Trans Alaska Pipeline System , includes the Trans Alaska Pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of the world's largest pipeline systems...
. It runs 400 miles (643.7 km) from near Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
. Rather than relieving congestion, the highway was built to allow access to the Prudhoe Bay oilfields, which before were inaccessible. Permits were required to drive it until 1995, but it is currently owned by the state of Alaska and open to the public.
California
AB 680, passed in 1989, allowed up to four private highway franchises to be granted. The 91 Express Lanes in the median of the Riverside FreewayRiverside Freeway
The Riverside Freeway is a named freeway in Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties in the U.S. state of California. It refers to the following two segments:...
were privately owned and operated by a private consortium (one of the members of which was Cofiroute, France's largest private highway operator) from 1995 to 2003.OCTA - Overview
Dulles Greenway
The Dulles Greenway, Virginia's first private toll road since 1816, is a 14 mile (23 km) highway connecting Washington Dulles International AirportWashington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport is a public airport in Dulles, Virginia, 26 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C. The airport serves the Baltimore-Washington-Northern Virginia metropolitan area centered on the District of Columbia. It is named after John Foster Dulles, Secretary of...
with Leesburg, Virginia
Leesburg, Virginia
Leesburg is a historic town in, and county seat of, Loudoun County, Virginia, United States of America. Leesburg is located west-northwest of Washington, D.C. along the base of the Catoctin Mountain and adjacent to the Potomac River. Its population according the 2010 Census is 42,616...
. In 1988, the Virginia General Assembly
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,...
authorized private development of toll roads. To take advantage of this opportunity, the Bryant/Crane family of Middleburg, Virginia
Middleburg, Virginia
Middleburg is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States with a population of approximately 976 as of July 2010.-History:The town was established in 1787 by American Revolutionary War Lieutenant Colonel and Virginia statesman, Levin Powell. He purchased the land for Middleburg at $2.50 per...
, AIE, L.L.C., and Kellogg, Brown and Root
Kellogg, Brown and Root
KBR, Inc. is an American engineering, construction and private military contracting company, formerly a subsidiary of Halliburton, headquartered in Houston. The company also has large offices in Arlington, Birmingham, Newark, Delaware and Leatherhead, UK. After Halliburton acquired Dresser...
of Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
joined together to form Toll Road Investors Partnership II (TRIP II). Brown & Root constructed the road with private funds, opening it for traffic on September 29, 1995. Autostrade International
Autostrade International
Atlantia S.p.A. is an Italian holding company whose primary asset is Autostrade per l'Italia, the largest concessionaire on the Italian autostrade network...
, a company with over 30 years of experience in the development, construction, maintenance, and operation of Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
toll road networks, formed an American subsidiary to take over operation of the Greenway.
The Greenway has several methods of expediting traffic flow. Six traffic lanes, a uniform 65 mph (105 km/h) speed limit, and a complete absence of traffic lights keep traffic moving at a steady pace. In addition, electronic toll collection, using the Virginia Department of Transportation
Virginia Department of Transportation
The Virginia Department of Transportation is the agency of state government responsible for transportation in the state of Virginia in the United States. Headquartered in Downtown Richmond, VDOT is responsible for building, maintaining, and operating the roads, bridges and tunnels in the...
's Smart Tag
Smart Tag
Smart Tag is the former name of a transponder-based electronic toll collection system implemented by the Virginia Department of Transportation . It was launched as Fastoll on April 15, 1996...
system, enables Smart Tag lanes to "process five times as many vehicles per hour as conventional cash payment lanes".
The Dulles Greenway charges a fixed amount for use of the road, regardless of whether the driver exits before driving the complete length of the Greenway. In 2004, the operators won approval from the State Corporation Commission
State Corporation Commission
The State Corporation Commission, or SCC, is a Virginia regulatory agency whose authority encompasses utilities, insurance, state-chartered financial institutions, securities, retail franchising, and railroads...
to increase tolls from $2.00 to $3.00 per car. In 2005, Tom Sines of TRIP II announced plans for widening the highway, adding two new exits, expanding the main toll plaza, building a ramp to the airport, and reconfiguring an exit as a cloverleaf interchange
Cloverleaf interchange
A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which left turns, reverse direction in left-driving regions, are handled by ramp roads...
.
Texas
In early 2007, there were plans for a private developer, Cintra-Zachry, to invest $1.3 billion to build a 40 miles (64.4 km) toll-funded southward extension to complete the "Trans-Texas Corridor." However, also in 2007, the Texas legislature enacted legislation placing a two-year moratorium on private equity toll concessions.Illinois
In 2006, Mayor Daley leased out the Chicago SkywayChicago Skyway
The Chicago Skyway, also known as Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge System, is a toll road in Chicago, Illinois, United States, carrying Interstate 90 from the Indiana Toll Road to the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago's South Side leading into the Chicago Loop....
for 99 years for $1.8 billion. The road had lost money for decades and only recently turned a profit.
Colorado
The Colorado legislature considered a bill to ban use of eminent domainEminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
to condemn private property for private highway construction. Such legislation was vetoed in 2005, but a compromise bill was enacted into law in 2006. The new law requires toll road developers to get approval from cities and counties affected by a proposed road and requires projects to go through a transportation department approval process, complete with an environmental assessment.
The Super Slab is a proposed private highway that would run from north of Fort Collins to south of Pueblo. It sparked a debate on the use of eminent domain for such purposes. Opponents proposed the Castle Rock Alternative Parkway, which would run through the home of Super Slab developer Ray Wells.
Toll roads to serve development
In addition to many private toll roads built to serve ordinary travel needs, some have been built to serve new housing developments. Those include the following:- Adams Avenue Turnpike, Ogden, UtahOgden, UtahOgden is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. Ogden serves as the county seat of Weber County. The population was 82,825 according to the 2010 Census. The city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a...
- Alabama River Parkway, Montgomery, AlabamaMontgomery, AlabamaMontgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
- Burnside Expressway, Halifax, Nova Scotia (proposed in Canada)
- Emerald Mountain Expressway, Montgomery, AlabamaMontgomery, AlabamaMontgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
- Foley Beach Expressway, Orange Beach, AlabamaOrange Beach, AlabamaOrange Beach is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 3,784. It is part of the Daphne–Fairhope–Foley Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
- Poinciana Parkway, central FloridaCentral FloridaCentral Florida is a regional designation for the area surrounding Orlando in east central Florida, United States. The area represents the third largest population concentration in Florida, after the South Florida and Tampa Bay regions, respectively....
(proposed) - Western Bypass, Tuscaloosa, AlabamaTuscaloosa, AlabamaTuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...