By Scott Smith, Jack Sellers and Michael Nowakowski
Recently, a private group submitted an unsolicited proposal to build the South Mountain Freeway using private financing. We believe this proposal to use private money, and which does not include tolling, may herald the arrival of a faster and less-expensive model for freeway construction. It potentially means the freeway could be built years faster and at less cost to taxpayers.
As elected officials, we are committed to exploring new ways to finance and build critical infrastructure. We believe that partnerships between the public and private sectors, also called P3s, is certainly an idea that is worth considering. However, as part of this effort, we want to ensure that any public-private partnership will provide unequivocal advantages to the taxpayer, such as facilities that are built better, faster and more efficiently.
