CHICAGO, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Facing a budget shortfall, the Chicago City Council has unanimously approved leasing the 7.8-mile Chicago Skyway toll road to a Spanish-Australian consortium.
The city will receive $1.82 billion from the lease, helping it close a $220 million 2005 budget deficit and pay off Skyway bonds and other city debt.
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley signed the lease after the 45-0 vote. The joint venture will pay the full amount to the city within 90 days, the Chicago Tribune said.
The Cintra-Macquarie consortium, which operates about 30 privatized toll roads worldwide, is leasing the elevated highway for 99 years.
Tolls on the 40-year-old highway will rise from $2 to $2.50 until 2008, when the toll will increase to $3. The toll will then rise to $4 during 2013 and $5 in 2017.
After a shaky start when it opened in the 1960s, the Skyway -- offering a direction connection with northern Indiana -- currently generates an annual profit of about $20 million.
