You, too, may be able to own a toll road

In a bit of news that's left Houstonist scratching its head in bewilderment, Harris County agreed to hire three investment banks to study what to do with the county's toll road sytstem: sell it, lease it or leave it alone. The studies, expected to be conducted by JP Morgan Securities, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, will cost a cool $1 million — but look at the potential return:

Investment houses and private toll-road operators have inquired whether the county is interested in privatizing, saying it might be able to lease its system for $2 billion to $7 billion.

An outright sale might net $2.7 billion to $4.4 billion, concluded First Southwest Co., the county's financial adviser.

But First Southwest and the investment banks have provided only preliminary estimates of how much the county could make. The studies will try to determine more exactly how much the county could reap by selling or leasing.

Which leaves us with a question: If investors think leasing or selling the toll road system could bring in that kind of money, that would seem to indicate the toll roads are big moneymakers. So aside from the sudden influx of cash from a lease or sale, why would the county want to get rid of the toll roads? We assume the profit from a lease or sale could be used to pay for other things — more roads? — and everyone likes a windfall more than a trickle of cash. Still, it's an odd idea.

(As Off the Kuff notes, Austin is thinking about a similar deal for its still-under-construction toll road system, and state officials are hoping private companies will build or buy roads in the state. To quote TxDOT, "Texas is open for business!")