Could tolls along the planned South and East beltways help pull Lincoln's long-sought highway projects off the back burner?
A panel of Nebraska lawmakers will examine that question as part of a sweeping study of the state's transportation system this summer.
The study also will consider whether Nebraska should join the rest of the U.S. by having a department of transportation that oversees all transportation infrastructure, not just roads.
The gas tax — which lawmakers voted to increase last week — will continue to be part of the state's long-term solution to roads funding, said Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, chairman of the Legislature's Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, who sponsored both the gas tax bill and the proposed study.
"But with the introduction of greater fuel efficiency, alternative-fuel vehicles, we need to find some way to have everyone pay their fair share," he said.
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With toll roads, the state could avoid the upfront costs and financial risks of new highway construction by partnering with private businesses. The companies would be responsible for building the infrastructure, with the hope of eventually profiting off the tolls paid by drivers.
Gov. Pete Ricketts pitched such public-private partnerships as an alternative to raising the gas tax this spring.
But many questions remain, including whether the state has enough traffic — or public support — to make even limited use of toll roads feasible.
"We have to have a 21st-century infrastructure to be able to grow our state," Ricketts told members of the Nebraska Highway Commission during a meeting Friday where he introduced the state's new roads director, Kyle Schneweis.
"We need to take a step back," the governor said. "We have an opportunity here to say, 'I know the things we did before have worked, but is that how we have to do things going forward?'"
Construction on the South Beltway is scheduled to begin no sooner than 2020 and is expected to take five to seven years. The four-lane divided freeway would connect Nebraska 2 at 120th Street with U.S. 77 southwest of Lincoln.
There is no timeline for the East Beltway, which would connect the South Beltway and Nebraska 2 with the U.S. 6/Interstate 80 interchange near Waverly.
The state has set aside money for the South Beltway under the 2011 Build Nebraska Act, which directed a quarter-cent of the state sales tax toward road construction and repair.
It's expected to cost $200 million, with $40 million to be contributed by the city of Lincoln. City officials have come up with more than 40 percent of that cost by giving $16.6 million in unused federal funds to the state in exchange for a credit toward the South Beltway.
"For us, we feel like the South Beltway is ready to go," said Lincoln Public Works Director Miki Esposito.
No local, state or federal funding has been committed to the East Beltway, which is expected to cost $275 million.
Esposito said tolling "could certainly be considered" for the East Beltway, but pointed to a 2009 legislative study overseen by then state Sen. Deb Fisher that gave toll roads a thumbs-down.
"A small population state like Nebraska is ill-suited for toll roads," that report found. "Tolling relies on high traffic areas and each vehicle contributing a small portion for the use of the road."
Only Interstate 80 has that kind of traffic, the report said. And not only does the federal government rarely allow tolling on the interstate system, drivers could avoid paying tolls on I-80 by using alternate routes such as U.S. 6 and U.S. 34.
In addition, governments have "become wary" of public-private partnerships, the report said.
Chicago's 2008 deal to lease 36,000 parking meters to a private corporation for 75 years in exchange for $1.15 billion cash is expected to ultimately cost the city upwards of $1 billion.
"Critics warn that private toll roads create bad long-term deals for the state and benefit businesses and their investors more than the public," the Nebraska legislative report said the following year. "Private ventures have monopolized routes. Others have defaulted and closed highways."
Still, public-private partnerships are worth considering for specific projects, said E.J. Militti, a state highway commissioner representing the Omaha area.
"I've always thought that we need to be investigating all different avenues and means," Militti said Friday. But, "when you give some private entity power over your assets, there's some struggles."
"The private people are in it to win it," he cautioned fellow commissioners during Friday's meeting.
Allowing public-private toll roads would almost certainly require the Legislature's approval.
A longstanding state statute allows cities and counties to set tolls on local bridges, but Nebraska law doesn't explicitly allow tolling or public-private partnerships on state-run highways.
Smith said this summer, Transportation Committee members will tour the state and do case studies on three specific projects: the Lincoln South Beltway, the Lincoln East Beltway and widening U.S. 275 between Norfolk and Omaha.
The beltways are likely to experience heavier traffic volumes than a four-lane U.S. 275, Smith said, but that project "is going to need the funding nonetheless."
The study would also examine:
* Exactly how much money cities and counties need for roads funding. Ricketts expressed concern about the lack of comprehensive, concrete data on local roads funding needs during the gas tax debate.
* How state roads funding could or should be used, whether cities and counties are overstepping the rules, and whether they could be taking more advantage of the money available.
* Possible changes to the management structure at the Department of Roads, including whether to fold other state agencies into an overall Department of Transportation.
"We certainly don't have a lot of passenger rail or aeronautics and things some of the other states do that benefit from having a department of transportation," Smith said Friday. "We are a road and bridge state.
"We don't have to look like every other state, but I have heard that brought up in conversation of late, and I think it's worth having that discussion."