Jefferson Parkway Plan....
The developer and operator of the Greenville Southern Connector toll road has filed for bankruptcy, reports TollRoadsNews.com. The Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing says that actual traffic and revenues are "substantially less than projected" and “the debtor is insolvent,” according to the website.
League of Women Voters of Jefferson County writes a guest column for The Denver Post questioning the Jefferson Parkway plan for a variety of reasons. Noting that the proposed toll road plan includes a right of way on the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, the League writes: “We have requested that the U.S. Department of the Interior require the preparation of a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to update management strategies for the impacts of that transportation easement that were not known when the original EIS was written for the Refuge. Additionally, new information is needed for the impacts of new proposals for commercial and residential developments on the east, south and west boundaries of the Refuge. Without the supplemental EIS, we will not know how the latest development plans would impact wildlife habitat and corridors, scenic vistas, air quality and noise...all important considerations for a viable, sustainable refuge environment.”
Two Washington Times editorials challenge the politics and economics of privately operated toll roads. The first editorial, published March 30, 2010, states that, “It turns out that estimates based on rosy scenarios are the norm in the world of tolling schemes.” It adds: “Plunging traffic is also the norm nationwide.”
The second Washington Times editorial, from April 9, 2010, takes on gridlock guarantees. “Purportedly ‘innovative’ public-private partnerships ensure that this situation never exists by securing non-compete contract clauses that either directly prevent or indirectly discourage improvements to nearby free roads,” the Times notes.
Skepticism of revenue projections remains high in Colorado after initial studies predicting Northwest Parkway traffic proved to be far too optimistic. The Denver Post editorializes on March 31, 2010, “As we have seen with toll-road studies, when the consultants who conduct them also are in the business of building the roads, estimates are notoriously rosy.” The Post references “strategies used by forecasters for the Northwest Parkway, which proved badly flawed.”
San Diego’s South Bay Expressway (SBE) company has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization, TollRoadsNews.com reports March 24, 2010. In what’s become a recurring theme, traffic and revenue forecasts proved to be far too optimistic. According to TollRoadsNews.com: “Traffic and revenue forecasts underlying the financing plan for the SBE projected 60k vehicles/day in 2009 whereas traffic was in fact 23k/day, or 38% of forecast level. Toll revenue in 2008 was $22m or 70% of the forecast $31m. In 2009 toll revenue was $21m, about half of the $42m forecast.”
Northwest Parkway operator Brisa lost $22.6 million on the struggling toll road in 2009, according to its year-end financial results. In 2008, Brisa lost $20.6 million on the Northwest Parkway. (See page 38 of Brisa year-end financial results linked to above. We’ve converted losses to dollars from Euros.) Average daily traffic on the Northwest Parkway in 2009 was 10,593, down 12.6% (see page 34 of year-end financial results document).
The
Growing opposition to Jefferson Parkway fails to sway regional planning group but hurdles remain for toll road.
Golden is mulling whether to mount a legal challenge to vote supporting
The private operator who took over the
Sixty-three percent of people who made their opinions known during a December, 2009 comment period said they opposed including the Jefferson Parkway in the
The
The
USA Today reports that the rush by state and local governments to privatize infrastructure “has all but collapsed in the recession.” It notes that Macquarie Infrastructure Group said earlier this year that its toll road investments had lost one-third of their value.
City of
A new federal push to protect habitat for the Preble's meadow jumping mouse could affect the
Here’s the latest in a string of bad news for toll roads: TollRoadsNews.com reports that the Greenville, S.C. “Southern Connector” toll road is headed for bankruptcy, Mississippi’s private Jackson Airport Parkway toll road proposal runs into trouble.
The Denver Post reports that the proposed Jefferson County Parkway faces a “new obstacle” – federal officials say they’ll need to conduct environmental reviews that “could take years,” according to the manager of the nearby Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge.
TheNewspaper.com describes Golden’s warnings about the financial viability of the
The Bond Buyer, the daily newspaper of public finance, reports that CRA International “concluded that the parkway would attract few drivers and, as a result, insufficient toll revenues to cover the cost of building and operating the road.” (Accessing this article requires a subscription.)
Denver Post covers release of research highlighted in this website. Post quotes Golden letter saying that "All available information suggests that the Jefferson Parkway would be an exceptionally bad investment that will not provide any return to investors."
A major credit rating agency has warned investors that toll roads no longer make a great investment choice, reports TheNewspaper.com.
A recent article from Barron’s makes the argument that road privatization mania may have run its course. No longer are private investors willing to ante up seemingly irrational sums for toll roads. According to Barron’s, “The credit-market collapse and political opposition have all but killed the
In May, the national PBS Blueprint
The PBS series doesn’t give enough credit to the
As The Denver Post noted in “Jeffco road plan rolls out of dead end” (May 31), “While traffic congestion is a significant problem in parts of
The State of Florida got no bids for the toll road concession it was offering on the so-called “Alligator Alley.” TollRoadsNews.com reports: “The lack of a bid probably reflects the rotten financial conditions for raising money for long-term projects and uncertainties over the investment environment.”
Toll road traffic and revenue projections tend to exhibit “optimism bias.” In common language, that means they overestimate the amount of traffic and revenue new toll roads will attract. An international expert’s new book, “An Interpreter's Guide to Toll Road Traffic & Revenue Forecasts,” quantifies this, as described in this presentation.
Major new federal legislation would put restrictions on gridlock guarantees like those that a Jefferson Parkway toll road would likely require. Both E-470 and the Northwest Parkway have used gridlock guarantees – known as “non-compete agreements” – which limit the ability to create free roads nearby, thus forcing drivers to use the toll road.
Under the U.S. House Transportation Committee's Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009, toll concessions will be prohibited from including non-compete provisions preventing states from improving or expanding other roads located within the same corridor as the toll road, according to TollRoadsNews.com.
E-470 Executive Director Edward DeLozier wrote in the Rocky Mountain News in 2008 that he assumed the Jefferson County beltway link would include a non-compete agreement. While the new congressional bill wouldn’t directly impact a Jefferson Parkway deal, it shows the widespread concern with these kinds of deals.