Show Me the Money

In its final days, the Warner administration appears to have developed its own, unique approach to the transportation crisis: Solicit public-private partnerships on an unprecedented scale to upgrade major traffic corridors, using tolls and private capital to pay for improvements that the state cannot. We are living through what may be the greatest boom in public-private transportation partnership solicitations and proposals in the history of Virginia.

In theory, PPTAs inspire the private sector to inject fresh thinking and outside capital into Virginia's transportation system. But critics worry that the PPTAs elevate lower-priority projects to the top of the list for state funding at the expense of the general welfare. Bob Burke highlights the issues in his latest Road to Ruin reporting, "Show Me the Money."