Conceding it “doesn’t look good” for the current proposal to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Governor Rendell says he intends to revisit the issue next year.

Governor Rendell has said he expects the current $12.8 billion bid for a long-term lease of the turnpike to expire by the end of the year, and there are strong indications that the proposal won’t get consideration in the legislature by then.

So the governor says he’ll look for new proposals next year — starting with the current bidder”

“Well, I think most likely, if this fails, since Abertis has spent a lot of money trying to get this done, we’ll let them take the first crack at it, and see where they come in. But that remains to be seen.”

But Rendell concedes given market conditions, it’ll be hard to match the current offer. The feds’ rejection of tolls on Interstate-80 has blown a hole in plans for long-term funding of roads and mass transit and the governor insists doing nothing is not an option.
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