Yah go to credit her for "thinking outside the box" as that cliche goes. Kansas' colleges need money for repairs and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sibelius came up with the idea of using toll revenues.

She's proposing legislation requesting the Turnpike raise $300m extra for the colleges over seven years based on a five percent increase in tolls each year. She wants the Turnpike to issue $300m in bonds for the colleges on the promise of higher tolls.

Six universities in Kansas (six mind you!) want the state government to find them $660m for fixing crumbling buildings.

Just why the Turnpike should pay to subsidize college costs, the governor has never explained.

Turnpike CEO Michael Johnston says No

Turnpike president & CEO Michael L Johnston, after expressing "enormous professional respect" for the governor, said in an official statement this would "break faith with the user-fee concept that has been part of the legal tradition of the Kansas Turnpike throughout its 50-year history."

He said he was "disappointed that the Governor has turned to Turnpike customers to correct a problem they did not cause and for which they should not be held responsible."

BACKGROUND

The Kansas Turnpike is 380km (236mi) long with 21 interchanges and carries designations I-70, I-335 and I-35. It links the western outskirts of Kansas City on the Missouri border in the northeast of the state as I-70 with Topeka then heads southwest as I-335 to Emporia, and further southeast as I-35 to Wichita, then south as I-35 to the Oklahoma border. It is mostly rural and 2x2 lanes, though it has a couple of widened 2x3 lane sections.

It was financed entirely with toll revenue bonds and built in 22 months opening Oct 1956. Construction of other turnpikes in the state was sabotaged by the unfortunate system of federal gas tax grants starting in that year.

Tolls on the Kansas Turnpike are among the lowest in the country: for cars are 3.7c/mile (2.3c/km), regular 5-axle tractor trailers (Class 5) 10.9c/mile (6.8c/km), long turnpike doubles (Class 8) 24.3c/mile (15.1c/km), triples (Class 9) 26.7c/mile (16.6c/km).

Toll revenue was $74m in 2005 based on 88k trips/day average. The Turnpike uses a ticket system for trip tolling. It was one of the earliest adopters of electronic tolling implementing an Amtech passive backscatter battery powered transponder 1995 under the brandname K-TAG.

The Turnpike has five board members - two are appointed by the governor for 4 year terms, two from the legislature, and the fifth is the state sec transport.

COMMENT

Whoever owns the Turnpike can legitimately choose how they spend any profits. Since it is state owned the state decides through its political processes. Toll authorities in New York, New Jersey and northern California produce huge surpluses that go mainly to lossmaking rail and ferry transit operations. In forgoing billions in potential concession fees and turning the Dulles Toll Road over to a local airports authority Virginia is going that route too - on behalf of a boondoggle rail line to Dulles airport.

A couple of state turnpikes are used to support boondoggles like "economic development" (unprofitable but politically connected business ventures), tourism and arts and crafts (West Virginia).

That's all legitimate in the sense of being lawful. Whether it makes sense is quite another issue. Most state tolls are justified to finance the construction and upkeep of the toll facility itself.

Using toll revenues for colleges is bizarre. Healthy colleges can cover their costs themselves from users - like tollroads do.

College graduates are among the highest income people in our society and there are generous low interest loans to allow students to shift the burden of tuition fee payment into their earning years.

Sounds to us as though they have a serious surplus of universities in Kansas if they can't raise money for maintenance from tuition fees, alumni gifts, and research income.

Academics are about the least deserving people we can imagine for subsidies from the state.

Legislators fortunately are showing no inclination to support Sibelius' wacky idea.

see http://ksturnpike.com

TOLLROADSnews 2007-02-03