INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- A private company has bid nearly $4 billion to lease the busy Indiana toll road, Gov. Mitch Daniels said Monday.
No details of the $3.8 billion bid were released, but Daniels, a Republican, has said in recent months that leasing the toll road in a major privatization deal would help fund dozens of state projects.
The Indiana Department of Transportation, which operates the toll toad, faces a nearly $3 billion shortfall for new construction projects because of lagging gasoline tax revenues, the Indianapolis Star reported.
The Munster (Ind.) Times said as many as nine companies, all foreign, were interested in leasing the toll road.
The toll road, which runs from the Indiana-Ohio state border to the outskirts of Chicago, produces more than $90 million a year in revenue.
The toll road connects to the Chicago Skyway, which Chicago city officials leased to a Spanish-Australian consortium for $1.8 billion in a long-term deal in 2004.
