Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU wrote:LINCOLN — The State of Nebraska needs to consider toll roads and other ways to leverage private funds if it hopes to build highways and bridges in the future, according to an Omaha-based conservative think tank.
A report to be released today by the Platte Institute for Economic Research says that Nebraska, like many states, won't have enough money in the future to do more than maintain its existing transportation system.
With road building's traditional sources of funding, such as fuel taxes, either flat or on the decline, states need to look to public-private partnerships in particular to finance expensive freeways and bridges, the report says.
Examples would include the $145 million bridge over the Missouri River planned south of Bellevue and the $175 million south beltway project around Lincoln — projects with no existing funding sources.
AdvertisingAt least half the states already allow such partnerships, said Shirley Ybarra, a former Virginia state roads director who wrote the report.
“This is a tool in the toolbox,” said Ybarra, a Lincoln native. “What we're asking is that perhaps Nebraska should consider this tool.”
Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU wrote:If states wait until they have the tax revenue before they build more roads, she said, it could be years before expensive projects are built, such as the $20 million project to expand Nebraska Highway 133 to four lanes between Omaha and Blair.
Contracting with a private company not only to design but also to build, finance and even operate such roads can save money, Ybarra said. The State of Colorado, the report said, saved nearly $200 million on the construction of the $600 million E-470 toll road around Denver.
Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU wrote:Other recommendations by Ybarra:
- Use other types of partial private financing that would be repaid from state revenue. These would be an alternative to issuing bonds to finance roads, which is being considered by some senators, including Gay. Pension funds, Ybarra said, are looking for infrastructure projects to invest in.
- Consider toll lanes for trucks. Such designated lanes are currently being studied by Wyoming and Missouri.
- Give more weight to relieving traffic congestion in urban areas in state road-funding formulas rather than try to spread funds equally across the state. The Omaha area currently ranks 49th among metropolitan areas in congestion. By 2030, congestion levels in Omaha are projected to double and will compare with delays experienced now in the Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. Spreading funds around politically, the report said, means some needed urban projects go undone “while empty highways get built in sparsely populated areas.”
- Nebraska ranked eighth nationally in 2008 in highway department “performance,” an annual assessment by the Reason Foundation that gauges the quality of roads in a state compared with what it spends. The state rose from No. 19 in 2007 by improving the overall condition of its rural and urban Interstate highways.
OWH wrote:- Give more weight to relieving traffic congestion in urban areas in state road-funding formulas rather than try to spread funds equally across the state. The Omaha area currently ranks 49th among metropolitan areas in congestion. By 2030, congestion levels in Omaha are projected to double and will compare with delays experienced now in the Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. Spreading funds around politically, the report said, means some needed urban projects go undone “while empty highways get built in sparsely populated areas.”
For the love of fuknuts I don't know why this hasn't been the case already. I'm not even going to start on how much we could save and put towards better public transit in Omaha but some of Nebraska's new highway choices are retarded. My main pet peeve one is the new highway the finished a few years ago between Nebraska City and Auburn. The drive between the two was only 20 mins before even with heavy traffic and getting stuck behind someone going slow.
Years and millions of dollars later the new 4 lane highway now makes the trip only 15 minutes! Good to know we expedited the trips to Walmart for people in Nebraska's fastest shrinking city (Auburn).
Brad wrote:I believe that will eventually be a 4 lane highway from I29 to Lincoln to make a good route to KC from Lincoln.
That stupid thing has already been built and finished since I was in high school. That's Highway 2. I'm talking about highway 75 from Nebraska City to Auburn.
How about the "need" to 4 lane 275 to Norfolk. Epic waste of money. Add that Heartland Expressway way the heck out in the nothingness. These are not needed.
the1wags wrote:How about the "need" to 4 lane 275 to Norfolk. Epic waste of money.
The Cattle Trucks between Omaha and Norfolk absolutely KILL traffic. Â Its just about impossible to pass up that way too. Â I personally can't wait for that to get done. Â Now if you want to quit eating steak, may be we don't need it
