Short Case Study About How Elected Officials Are Going Nuts Without a National Infrastructure Bank

August 11, 2021--The following is merely one example of the desperate condition our nation has been reduced to, as local, regional, and federal financing have failed to address crucial upgrades in our regional infrastructure. The alternative, already discredited, has become public-private partnerships(P3). While they work, at best, in a limited number of cases, they have already failed as a policy antidote. Even so, powerful financial interests have made P3 part of the ongoing debate around infrastructure, and an included feature of most of the ‘infrastructure banks” other than the real, authentic Hamiltonian variety as seen in HR3339.

Here is one, brief story.

Despite previous opposition in Montgomery County, Md, the proposed P3 financed “hot lanes” for I-495 and I-270 are now set for a vote in the upcoming week. The Maryland Board of Public Works, which has three members including Maryland Governor Hogan, has the green light to vote because of the now majority support from the Montgomery County Council, and they are expected to approve the

deal. (1) (Editor's note: the board approved moving forward in the vote today.)

The companies expected to win the contract include Macquarie and Transurban, both Australian companies involved in constructing private toll roads.

The point can be made by pointing to another nearby and related project.

 Part of Transurban’s contract in constructing the hot lanes in Virginia (also on the same I-495 Beltway) includes a provision that effectively prevents the creation of rail lines connected to these interstates, which would “siphon off” money from the private investors. They have a right under their contract (which expires in 2087) with Virginia, to seek compensation from the state, if Virginia would dare invest in such regional rail such as rail which went around the DC Beltway. (2)