From: David H. Weiner, President, CWA Local 1081
Date: April 21, 2008
Re: No 159th CWA Local 1081 E-mail Trivia Contest Winner
There was no winner of last week's CWA Local 1081 Trivia Contest. No one answered all of the following four questions correctly:
While New Jersey’s Governor Corzine’s proposal to privatize toll roads within the state has not come to fruition, Indiana did privatize its East-West Toll Road in 2006 to a consortium from which two countries? What are the names and the respective locales of the two companies that comprise this entity?
Answer: An Australian and Spanish consortium. Macquarie Infrastructure Group of Sydney and Cintra Concesiones de Infrastructures de Transporte S.A. of Madrid.
Regarding the first privatization deal for any toll road within the United States, name the city and its mayor that leased what road, to what entity, for how much and for what period of time.
Answer: Chicago. Mayor Richard Daley. The Chicago Skyway. The Skyway Concession Company. $1.83 billion. 99 years.
In the first half of the 19th century, why did states within the U.S. take over roads, bridges and canals that had been in private hands?
Answer: They went bankrupt.
The administration of George W. Bush persuaded Congress last summer to take steps to make it easier for the private sector to finance new roads -- and take over existing ones. What did federal lawmakers do in response?
Answer: They removed several legal barriers to charging tolls on interstates and gave private investors new access to tax-free bonds for transportation projects.