Not surprisingly, President Trump’s long-awaited infrastructure plan – which has been met with both praise and criticism – addresses a wide variety of issues with our aging infrastructure, and potential ways to pay for it. While there are a number of suggestions on how to pay for all that is needed, at times it seems like the plan is throwing ideas “into the stew to see what tastes good.”
Many media outlets – from the Washington Post to Politico to Reuters have zeroed in on the part of the plan that discusses selling off a wide variety of federal assets. These assets in the proposed plan include the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport and power assets around the country such as the Southwestern Power Administration.
Also included as “examples of assets for potential divestiture” were Washington D.C.’s George Washington Memorial Parkway and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, both run by the National Park Service.
In some instances, it makes sense for the Federal Government to get out of the way. The Baltimore/Washington Parkway – largely owned by the Federal Government – currently lacks important safety devices, such as modern guardrails and attenuation devices. If it were run by the state, or a private organization, the Parkway corridor could logically provide for additional transit, such as light rail, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), the hyperloop, or high-speed rail, to name a few. The same holds true for the George Washington Memorial Parkway that runs along the Potomac River in Virginia.
There may come a point when it’s cheaper to give roads to local governments, rather than have the Federal Government continue to maintain them – to the tune of millions of dollars each year. As an example, Lord & Taylor is selling their 5th Avenue flagship store in Manhattan for $850 million. Sometimes, it just makes sense to unload assets in order to reduce the cost of maintenance.
In Maryland it became much more cost effective for the Maryland Port Authority to establish a Public Private Partnership (P3) with “Ports America” to run the ports.
Why P3s? They are a smart way to pay for infrastructure development and maintenance. A P3 can often provide a 15% – 40% savings in construction costs. In the long-term, a P3 can offer a 10% – 25% savings in operation and maintenance cost for governments. In times of construction, the private sector can build roadways up to three times faster than government!
While Federal Government is needed for many things, it does not need to be in charge of certain public works and infrastructure projects. We are long overdue for the Federal Government to get out of road and airport ownership and concentrate on making laws that make sense for our entire country.