Hey, buddy, wanna build a bridge?
The cash-strapped Port Authority is looking for a private investor to design and build a $1.5 billion replacement for Staten Island’s aging Goethals Bridge.
Officials at the bistate agency have been planning to replace the 81-year-old crossing to New Jersey, but a sharp drop in toll collections and other revenue during the economic downturn has limited the PA’s ability to sell bonds to pay for it.
Earlier this year, the PA cut $5 billion in capital spending from what had been a $29 billion capital plan because of the lower revenues.
But PA officials insist they are not selling the bridge.
“We would continue to own the bridge, to operate it and to set tolls that would be tied to the tolls on all our other structures,” said PA spokesman Stephen Sigmund.
An investor, or more likely a consortium, would put up the construction money, design the project according to PA plans and pay for major capital repairs over the lifetime of a lease with the agency, likely around 30 years.
The PA would make payments, with interest, until the builder is paid off.
The agency has set a June 11 deadline for expressions of investor interest.