No Such Thing as a Free Freeway

Statewide Proposition 157 has all the earmarks of a developer bailout in disguise. If passed, it will enable developers to propose roads that may or may not be needed with the certainty that the state will assume the financial burden later on. That’s not a wise promise, given the state’s fiscal condition. We recommend a “no” vote.

Under current law, the state highway agency, Caltrans, contracts with developers to build and operate a few private toll roads to supplement our vast system of freeways. These private roads are different from the quasi-public toll roads that have created controversy in Orange County; the private roads are designed to be owned by the state but leased for up to 35 years to operators, who would expect to charge tolls to pay for construction and maintenance before returning the roads to the state.

What happens next is the crucial point. Under the present scenario, Caltrans has the option of continuing toll collections, which are an obvious source of revenue needed for further maintenance, operation and patrols. Proposition 157 would change that. The initiative provides that any private road eventually would cease to be a toll road.

To be sure, California is a state whose sprawl unfurled under the banner of freeways, with the emphasis on free. The low-profile debate over Proposition 157, Toll Roads and Highways, Legislative Constitutional Amendment, may reflect Californian ambivalence about toll collection in a car culture. Proponents of 157 are wedded philosophically to freeways, so understandably they like the idea of ending toll collections. Yet once private developers have made their profit and moved on, somebody still must pick up operation and maintenance of the toll roads.

Even if new roads are so necessary that the state must turn to private developers to get them built, long-term provisions still should be made to maintain them. And toll projects are more likely to get close scrutiny if it’s clear that users will have to continue paying for them. Certainly, there is no reason to lock into the state Constitution a requirement that could stick the state with paying for the maintenance of private toll roads. Vote “no” on 157.