Gov. Nathan Deal said Tuesday that the state's first public-private toll road project will go out to bid, offering congestion relief to thousands of drivers daily along I-75 and I-575 in Cobb and Cherokee counties.
The state has not determined when it will go out to bid, however.
Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced that the federal government has given Georgia access to a subsidized loan, as first reported in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution two weeks ago. Deal and the Georgia DOT had put the project's bidding process on hold while they waited to learn if Georgia won the loan. While the state hoped to access a $375 million loan, it has been invited to apply for a $270 million loan, Deal said.
But while the loan made it possible to green-light the project, it remains unclear when the project would go out to bid or in what form.
If acceptable bids eventually come in, it will represent the largest transportation contract by far in the history of the state. The project is estimated to costapproximately $1 billion. State taxpayers may have to pay about a third of that.
The project would add one to two reversible toll lanes alongside the highways. Toll prices would rise and fall with congestion, with the goal of keeping the lanes free-flowing at all times.
Three private groups made up of international road-builders and financiers have already qualified to bid. Under current plans they would finance the project, operate the road and be repaid by toll fees over several decades.
The private financing may be critical to making the project happen. The project costs so much that it would consume the state's entire road budget for a year. And the federally subsidized loan, called a "TIFIA," may shave up to $100 million from the project cost.
But even the private financing, the expected toll money and the federal subsidy are not enough to build the whole project. State taxpayers will still likely need to add a subsidy, perhaps up to $350 million, according to the state DOT. The amount of the subsidy will not be clear until the bids come in.
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