The Washington State legislature adjourned July 23 without amending the

enabling law for United Infrastructure’s Tacoma Narrows Bridge franchise. The

inaction in Olympia puts the public-private project in limbo after seven

years and $30 million spent to structure a $700-million tax-exempt project

financing by Goldman Sachs (6/01, p.12).

Resurrecting the project will require a break in the current 50-50 split in

the state House of Representatives which is now jointly chaired by leaders of

each party. House Co-Speaker Frank Chopp (D-Seattle) adamantly opposes both

the public-private partnership approach taken by WashDOT and the higher cost

of nonrecourse debt financing over bonds issued by a proposed state toll

authority.

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Works Financing/PWF International, the monthly business buide to public-private partnerships, please email: PWFinance@aol.com