Spanish company offers nearly $3 billion to manage Highway 121 toll road

by PegNews wire

“I think we can boil it down to five words,” says North Central Texas Council of Governments director Michael Morris in the S-T. “Austin: We have a solution.”

I think we can boil it down to three words: Holy @#$!, Cintra! Actually, eight words and a two-letter appendage: Holy @#$!, Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA.

The S-T reports Cintra will pay a total of $5 billion, which includes $2.8 billion for other North Texas road projects. The DMN reports Cintra will pay $2.1 billion plus $700 million in toll revenue, no mention of any other billions. The Dallas Business Journal reports $2.8 billion, no mention of other billions.

The official go-ahead on Highway 121's new owner must be OK'd by the Texas Transportation Commission and an environmental study. The toll road will eventually stretch from just north of the DFW Airport to U.S. 75 near McKinney.

texas121.org

This is the portion collecting tolls currently.

According to Hoover's, Madrid-based Cintra operates about 20 turnpikes covering more than 1,050 miles in Canada, Chile, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and the U.S. Cintra also has pleasant music on its site. If you can't read Spanish, you're screwed. But your ears will soothe and smooth over your frustrations.

Posted by Blair