I-90 Indiana Toll Road Expansion Planned

Interstate 90 -- the Indiana Toll Road -- will be expanding to three lanes from Ripley Street in Lake Station to mile marker 10 in Gary, Indiana, according to the Indiana Toll Road Concession, reports the Post-Tribune.

Road work on the $215 million road construction project is scheduled to begin in 2008 and continue until 2010.

"We're going to maintain two lanes of traffic east- and westbound throughout the project," ITR spokesman Matt Pierce said. Work has begun on moving utilities and railroads around the structure, Pierce said.

Copyright 2007, Christopher Hedges .com, All Rights Reserved.

I-90 Indiana Toll Road Road Construction Indiana Toll Road Concession

Is Indiana Toll Road Operator's Parent Macquarie Bank Stable?

The Indiana Toll Road
toll booths at the I-65 Exit in Gary.

Did the fallout from the sub-prime mortgage market collapse destroy the financial underpinnings of Macquarie Bank -- the company that leased the Indiana Toll Road and the Chicago Skyway with Spanish corporation Cintra? The bank says their financial model is "robust."

News.com.au reports that Fortune magazine has a report about Macquarie Bank set for publication. Hat tip to Taking Down Words for spotting the article.

Fortune's interest in Macquarie follows the bank's move into the US infrastructure securitisation market, which is relatively undeveloped and has become politically controversial.

Macquarie and Spanish company Cintra did the first privatisation of a US toll road in 2004, when they offered $US1.8 billion for a 99-year lease on the Chicago Skyway toll road, paying almost $US1 billion more than the next highest bid.

They followed up with a $US3.8 billion deal to run the connecting Indiana Toll Road.

The article notes that, as the concept of infrastructure privatisation gets off the ground in the US, "there is widespread resentment and cynicism about the notion of private companies making money off what has long been perceived as public property".

The article suggests that the "financial structures underpinning Macquarie's assets" may be "as unstable as the steel that supported the Interstate 35W bridge" in the US, which recently collapsed.

Macquarie chief executive Allan Moss told analysts on Friday that many recent criticisms of the bank had been made by people who had "not taken the trouble to study Macquarie Bank" closely.

"They are not views that have been given any serious credit by serious investors or serious analysts," he said.

"It is well understood that we have a very robust business model."

Copyright 2007, Christopher Hedges .com, All Rights Reserved.

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Public Interest Group Issues Negative Indiana Toll Road Report

The Blue Indiana blog -- never a friend of the Mitch Daniel's administration that set up and oversaw the lease of the Indiana Toll Road to private interests -- found a US Public Interest Research Group report that says that the Indiana Toll Road lease was a bad deal for future Indiana taxpayers.

As I said, there is much more in the report, so go check it out. The general implication is, unfortunately, that the Indiana Toll Road lease and Major Moves program, while potentially politically useful for Governor Daniels now, will almost certainly result in numerous long-term problems for the state and the future generations who will be forced to live with the decisions of this administration.

It remains to be see whether the Indiana Toll Road lease works out for the best in the end, but Governor Mitch Daniel's administration points to huge interest that is being earned on the up-front lease payment that was obtained from the Indiana Toll Road operators.

Copyright 2007, ChristopherHedges.com, All Rights Reserved.

Tech Tags: Illiana Illiana+Expressway Illiana+Legislation Illiana+Toll+Road Interstate Transportation Public+Private+Toll+Roads

Mitch Daniels Speaks About Illiana Expressway And Indiana Toll Road Privatization

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels spoke with the Northwest Indiana Times' editors yesterday about a wide ranging series of topics, including the proposed Illiana Expressway which is currently being studied for construction from I-65 to I-57 in Illinois and the effects of privatizing the Indiana Toll Road.

Mitch Daniels told the Times that his suggestion to extend the Illiana Expressway past I-65 to form a loop connecting with I-94 was "what spurred most of the yelling and I understand that."

Despite the vocal opposition raised by people opposed to extending the Illiana Expressway into Porter County, Mitch Daniels hopes to be able to extend in proposed interstate to I-94 one of these days. "I hope we can keep the conversation going," said Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Daniels also spoke about the effects of privatization of the Indiana Toll Road. Despite some problems with signage advising which lanes are designed for I-Zoom / EZ-Pass / I-Pass toll collection and some backups at toll plazas caused the confusion and some grumbling by union members, Daniels said that the interested made from the Indiana Toll Road lease brought in more money for the state than the Indiana Toll Road did during its first 50 years.

Copyright 2007, ChristopherHedges.com, All Rights Reserved.

Tech Tags: Illiana Illiana+Expressway Illiana+Legislation Illiana+Toll+Road Interstate Transportation Public+Private+Toll+Roads

I-Zoom Doesn't Describe Indiana's EZ-Pass Woes

The news from the Indiana Toll Road -- now that the new Indiana EZ-Pass system dubbed I-Zoom has been in effect -- is that people or the toll road or both -- don't know what they are doing.

The Post-Tribune opines:

TR Concession, the company that took over running the Indiana Toll Road last year, would like us to think drivers in the miles of cars that have been sitting outside the toll booths just can't figure out which lanes to pull into or how to use their I-Passes or other electronic payment boxes. Many are the same drivers who are cruising through the Skyway tolls with their I-Passes, only to meet a parking lot on the Indiana side.

One recent Sunday, the company had only one lane devoted to electronic passes, backing up traffic for miles. The company blames most of the backups on cash-paying drivers who are wrongly pulling into the Toll Road's left two lanes, which are designated for electronic payments only.

The problem is, the Toll Road's new electronic lane design expects drivers trained by the Skyway setup to suddenly veer left for I-Pass payments instead of right, as they do on the Skyway. The signs announcing the lanes are poor and confusing.

Too bad that isn't the only bad news for EZ-Pass users. It seems that divorce attorneys are using EZ-Pass records to track spouses in domestic relations cases.

Copyright 2007, ChristopherHedges.com, All Rights Reserved.

Tech Tags: Illiana Illiana+Expressway Illiana+Legislation Illiana+Toll+Road Interstate Transportation Public+Private+Toll+Roads

ITR Discount Plan Discriminates Against I-Pass Users

The Illinois Tollway authority plans to complain to the E-Z Pass Interagency Group that the Indiana Toll Road's plan to give discounts to I-Zoom users, but not other E-Z Pass users, including I-Pass users, is discriminatory. Illinois gives Indiana I-Pass users a discount, but Indiana won't reciprocate.

Writes Keith Benman in the Northwest Indiana Times:

A bone thrown to northern Indiana legislators during the dogfight over privatization of the Indiana Toll Road has become a bone of contention between Illinois and the Toll Road's private operator.

The Illinois Tollway authority is protesting the fact that users of I-Pass transponders will not get a discount on the Indiana Toll Road, while users of Indiana Toll Road transponders, called I-Zoom, will get a discount when using the Illinois Tollway.

"The Illinois Tollway has never drawn a line between its residents and drivers who live in Indiana and travel in Illinois for daily commutes or leisure trips," Illinois Tollway Executive Director Brian McPartlin said.

The Illinois Tollway authority says 90,000 I-Pass transponders are owned by Indiana drivers who save $9 million in tolls annually.

Copyright 2007, ChristopherHedges.com, All Rights Reserved.

Tech Tags: I-Pass Illinois Tollway Indiana Toll Road

EZ-Pass Coming Soon To Indiana Toll Road

The EZ-Pass system will be active at the Indiana Toll Road by May, according to the Northwest Indiana Times. Drivers with an I-Zoom system transponder will get a 40% discount over the cash fare. While the Illinois Toll Road authority's I-Pass will work on the Indiana Toll Road, drivers using those transponders won't get the I-Zoom discount, reports The Times.

The Indiana Toll Road E-ZPass will go by the name I-Zoom, just as Illinois has I-Pass.

Cars and motorcycles with I-Zoom transponders will get a 40 percent discount on the new, higher tolls, which should be in effect by year-end.

The I-Zoom transponders also will operate on the Illinois Tollway, Chicago Skyway, and other E-ZPass toll roads in 10 other states.

Illinois residents will be able to use their I-Pass transponders on the Indiana Toll Road. But to get the 40 percent discount they will have to get I-Zoom transponders.

I-Zoom transponders will go on sale in May. Transponders will be available for a one-time charge of $10 to $12, Pierce said.

I-Zoom tolling will be installed on the entire 157-mile toll road by the end of the year, Pierce said. It will cost $40 million to install the E-ZPass system.

The E-ZPass Interagency Group, of Atlantic City, N.J., voted this week to accept ITR Concession Co. as a full member.

The Northwest Indiana Times article didn't mention if there were plans to construct open road tolling lanes like that offered on the Illinois Toll Road.

Tags: Indiana+Toll+Road I-Zoom I-Pass EZ-Pass electronic+toll+collection