| Summary: | Toll roads have re-emerged over the last few decades as a result of growing
transportation problems outpacing government funding sources. This thesis
provides a general background on tolling and public-private-partnership issues that
arise when developing public and private toll roads. The following are some of the
major findings: (1) Build-operate-transfer arrangements are extremely complex
financially and legally. (2) The major obstacle in developing toll roads is overcoming
public opposition. Where public opposition has been fierce, the issues have become
political agendas, which have delayed or stopped the project. (3) Most toll roads
have failed to meet their toll revenues. Based on a report by Muller and Morgan
(1996), 10 of 14 toll roads missed their projections by 20% to 75% in the initial years
after opening. The cost and time to develop the agreements are grossly
underestimated. (4) Private toll projects are costly and delayed because of lengthy
land negotiations, lack of definition in the preliminary design, and stringent
environmental reviews and approvals.
The findings from this study show that the use of private toll roads will be
limited unless government is willing to support the private sector by providing
financial contributions and clearing the project of land and environmental approvals,
where possible. If government does not provide substantial support for development
of private toll roads, the future trend will lean towards public toll road development,
assumed by an authority that would be responsible for a number of toll projects for
the following reasons: (1) Lack of available private toll road projects that would be
profitable and capable of being supported by tolls alone. To increase revenues and
reduce diversion, a system of toll roads will be required. (2) Based on past toll road
revenues, the private sector will be more cautious in entering build-operate-transfer
(BOT) agreements and lenders will be more cautious with their funds. Non-recourse
financing will be more difficult to obtain. (3) Reduced project cost by reducing the
time required to develop private agreements and to obtain right-of-way and
environmental approvals. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Civil Engineering, Department of === Graduate
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