The Private Sector's Role in Highway Finance: Lessons From SR 91

Ten mile-long toll lanes parallel the most congested portion of the approximately 30 mile-long corridor from Riverside into northern Orange County. In this paper, the authors relate how these once- private lanes of SR 91 provide vital lessons and warnings in private sector highway finance. The SR 91 project benefited from a cash strapped regional government booming with growth, but it ran into controversy over "no-compete" clauses which prevented widening of the adjacent public lanes. The Orange County Traffic Agency eventually bought the private lanes for $207.5 million, ending one of the nation's most visible private-public freeway partnerships. Simple public-private financing might be the future, the authors state. Private investors would pony up for the road building and reap the tolls, while the public could control alterations or expansions.