Skip to main content

Infrastructure investors line up for Indiana toll road

According to a report by Reuters, some of the world's largest pension funds and infrastructure investors are forming consortia to bid for the operator of an Indiana toll road that filed for bankruptcy last month. Indiana agreed in 2006 to lease the 253 kilometre highway, billed as the Main Street of the Midwest, for 75 years in return for US$3.8 billion. It stretches across the northernmost part of Indiana from Ohio to Illinois, linking Chicago with the largest cities on the eastern seaboard. While f
October 16, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
According to a report by Reuters, some of the world's largest pension funds and infrastructure investors are forming consortia to bid for the operator of an Indiana toll road that filed for bankruptcy last month.

Indiana agreed in 2006 to lease the 253 kilometre highway, billed as the Main Street of the Midwest, for 75 years in return for US$3.8 billion. It stretches across the northernmost part of Indiana from Ohio to Illinois, linking Chicago with the largest cities on the eastern seaboard.

While former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels described it as the deal of a lifetime, opponents fought the agreement all the way to the state's Supreme Court, arguing the state was surrendering an important revenue stream.

However, almost as soon as the deal closed, the US slid into a deep recession and has been slow to recover from a financial crisis in 2008. Traffic volume on the toll road in 2013 was 10.7 per cent below the 2007 level, according to documents filed with the US Bankruptcy Court in Chicago.

Among the players cited in the report are 5428 Cintra, 4419 Ferrovial, 1813 Autostrade Meridionali and 6605 Abertis Infraestructuras. An auction is expected to kick off next month and a deal will probably value the road at $4 billion to $5 billion.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • DriveOhio to monitor traffic and road incidents with drones
    June 8, 2018
    DriveOhio will use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to understand how to manage traffic, roadway incidents and roadway conditions along the 33 Smart Mobility Corridor from 1 July. The three-year project, valued $5.9m, is intended to complement autonomous and connected vehicle tests along the 35-mile stretch between Dublin and East Liberty.
  • Serco extends Dubai Metro contract
    October 29, 2013
    International service company Serco Group is to continue to operate and maintain the Dubai Metro. The company has signed a five-year extension to its contract with the Dubai Government Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in a deal valued at approximately US$571, with an opportunity to extend for a further two years to 2021. Serco first provided pre-launch consultancy and planning to the RTA from 2007 and began operating and maintaining the initial 10 stations on the Red Line from its official opening an
  • Dynamic toll payments on Virginia’s 495 express lanes
    October 19, 2012
    Private sector operator, Transurban, operators of Virginia’s I-495 express lane, has unveiled the highway’s incident management centre where the flow of vehicles will be monitored on a widescreen monitor displaying a dozen camera angles. The new lanes are expected to open by the end of fall. The centre will monitor traffic volume 24/7 in order to compute toll rates. The new roadway, connecting the Dulles toll road to the I-395/I-95/Springfield interchange fourteen miles to the south, will charge drivers dyn
  • Colombia kicks off second wave of 4G highway plan
    December 16, 2014
    Colombia has published the pre-bid documents for the first concession under the second wave of the country's US$25 billion 4G highway plan, the 202 kilometre Puerta de Hierro-Palmar de Varela highway. Located in northern Colombia, the highway runs through the departments of Sucre, Atlántico and Bolívar. The project entails US$187 million improvement works on 175 kilometres, with construction estimated to take three years, said vice president Germán Vargas Lleras. The works are to be followed by a main