Pa. Turnpike lease deal is dropped

The Legislature doesn’t have time to vote on the matter before the election.

HARRISBURG (AP) — The partnership that offered $12.8 billion to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike for 75 years said Tuesday it was walking away from the deal, citing inaction by the state Legislature.

Pennsylvania Transportation Partners decided not to renew an offer that expired at the end of the business day, but a spokesman said the group was open to pursuing a similar deal in the future.

“Since our team, I believe, has significant experience on the road and has spent a great deal of time with the people of Pennsylvania, we’re looking [for] any opportunities that might arise from this, should enabling legislation be enacted,” said Jim Courtovich.

He said the partnership between Abertis Infraestructuras of Spain and Citi Infrastructure Investors was “willing and ready to come back at any time.”

The General Assembly has only a few days of session left before the election, and leaders of both chambers have indicated there would not be floor votes on what would have been the nation’s largest infrastructure deal.

Courtovich said the decision not to extend the offer for a third time came after it became clear it would not get a floor vote.

If the current economic downturn continues, he said, “there will be a lot of people asking their legislative leaders who decided not to move on this what their reasons were to let a $12.8 billion infusion into the Pennsylvania economy” go by the wayside.

Opponents have criticized the bid to operate about 500 miles of the interstate as being too low, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission lobbied aggressively against it. Turnpike commission spokesman Carl DeFebo declined to comment.

Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell pursued bids to lease the turnpike as an alternative to adding tolls to Interstate 80, a plan that was rejected Sept. 11 by federal regulators. The state is looking at ways to pay for road improvements, bridge repairs and mass transit subsidies, and the failure of the two approaches in the past month represents a major setback.

In a joint statement released by Citi-Abertis, Rendell said he hoped that a lease with the partnership will be enacted eventually.

Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said lawmakers will probably revisit transportation funding next year, including such alternatives as exploring public-private partnerships or freeing up hundreds of millions of dollars by reallocating Motor License Fund money that is set aside for state police.

He said the problem was not unique to Pennsylvania.