Privatization could spur Hwy. 37 improvements

Giving up a public asset like a highway is not an easy thing to do, but in the case of Highway 37, it makes sense to at least explore that route.|

Traveling on Highway 37 near the Sonoma Raceway at the peak of commute time is an exercise in utter frustration. At that spot, where four lanes converge into two for the slow crawl along the northern edge of San Pablo Bay to Vallejo, traffic is frequently at a standstill for a quarter of an hour or longer.

Many exasperated motorists, stuck in their stationary cars with only the scenic wetlands to calm their frayed nerves, have no doubt thought, “I can do a better job at managing traffic than Caltrans.”

This is what Ed Diffendal thought, and he may be proven right, if we give him the chance. Diffendal is the CEO of United Bridge Partners, a company that specializes in privatizing public bridges and improving them.

United Bridge Partners has proposed to take over the Highway 37 right-of-way from the state and widen then entire stretch to four lanes while at the same time raising the roadway by about eight feet to accommodate the inevitable sea level increase. Of course, whenever private industry gets involved in a project, there is a profit motive, so to recoup its investment, the company would charge drivers a toll to use new causeway.

This is not a new concept. The company has so far improved two bridges - one in Virginia and one in Indiana - and collected the bridge tolls.

Practically, this sounds like an intriguing and potentially beneficial proposition, and it has the attention of local business leaders as well as transportation officials in Sonoma, Marin, Napa and Solano counties. Environmentalists, normally fierce opponents of highway expansion, are even sold on the concept as it would replace the levee-built road with an elevated causeway that would allow for the movement of tides into the wetlands.

For no upfront cost to the taxpayer, United Bridge Partners would solve the traffic problem, and they would be motivated to get the job done quickly so they can start collecting tolls.

The company says it can finish the job by 2020. By that time, Highway 101, the other major North Bay artery, is likely to still remain a four-lane choke point in Petaluma due to a lack of public funding.

Philosophically, the Highway 37 proposal is a bit more problematic and raises fundamental questions about the roles of the public and private sectors. For example, should the government give or sell public right-of-way to for-profit corporations? Put another way, should corporations step in and take over certain functions traditionally handled by government if the private sector can do it cheaper and more efficiently?

There are plenty of examples of private sector innovation supplanting bloated and inefficient government-run services. Garbage collection, road repair, even some prison operations and military functions have been outsourced to the private sector with varying results.

In the case of Highway 37, privatization might be a good thing if it expedites the completion of badly needed road improvements. With the lack of public funding for infrastructure - there is no money available on any level for Highway 37 - this might be one example where the private sector can do better than the government.

While the road work won’t be free, having toll booths on the route will ensure that only those who drive on Highway 37 will pay for the cost. This may be more palatable to taxpayers leery of passing special transportation tax measures at a time when current tax rates have become insufficient to fund our crumbling road network.

The east-west Highway 37 may be ideal for this experiment since Bay Area drivers are already accustomed to paying a toll on the major east-west arteries of the Richmond, Bay and San Mateo bridges. There is actually historical precedent for this. The section of Highway 37 from Sears Point to Vallejo was originally operated as a toll road before the state purchased it in 1938.

Giving up a public asset like a highway is not an easy thing to do, but in the case of Highway 37, it makes sense to at least explore that route. If it appears to lead to an improved highway on an expedited time line at no taxpayer cost, then we should do it.

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