Lining up at the turnpike gates

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is interested in leasing the 360-mile turnpike it now runs.

The commission's submission was among 48 letters received by the state Department of Transportation by the deadline Friday. The commission's letter was not anticipated.

"We have submitted an expression of interest that outlines our recommendations on how we could help close the gap that exists in highway and mass-transit funding in Pennsylvania," said Carl DeFebo, a Turnpike Commission spokesman.

Yesterday was the deadline set by Gov. Ed Rendell for companies to submit the letters of interest. Leasing the turnpike is viewed as a way to pay for shortfalls in highway, bridge and mass-transit spending.

Before he became governor, Rendell was employed by the law firm Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP, which submitted a letter.

PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick would not comment on the content of the letters but said officials would review them.

"This was an open call for expressions of interest to assist the commonwealth in pursuit of the concept of leasing the turnpike," he said. "Any entity was free to submit information."

Submitting letters were:

• Abertis, Alexandria, Va.

• Allen & Overy, New York City

• Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP, Washington, D.C.

• Banc of America Securities LLC, New York City

• Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc, New York City

• Borealis Infrastructure, Toronto

• Cabrera Capital Markets Inc., Chicago

• Cash-Ware Inc., Monroeville

• Chapman and Cutler, Chicago

• Cintra Developments LLC, Austin, Texas

• Credit Suisse Securities (USA), New York City

• Deloitte Consulting LLP, Harrisburg

• FFC Construction S.A., Spain

• First Southwest Co., Houston, Texas

• Fluor Enterprises Inc., Arlington, Va.

• Goldman, Sachs & Co., New York City, and AIG Financial Products Co., Wilton, Conn.

• Global Capital Finance, Purchase, N.Y.

• HDR Engineering Inc., Pittsburgh

• HH Capital Advisors LLC (The Herrick Co. Inc.), Cedar Knolls, N.Y.

• Halcrow Inc., Herndon, Va.

• ING Group, New York City

• Infrastructure Management Group, Bethesda, Md.

•= IRIDIUM Concesiones de Infraestructuras S.A., Spain

• J.P. Morgan Investments Management, New York City

• J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., New York City

• KPMG Corporate Finance, Austin, Texas

• Lazard Freres & Co., LLC, New York City

• Lehman Brothers, Philadelphia

• Macquarie Securities (USA) Inc., New York City

• Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, Chicago

• Merrilll Lynch, New York City

• Michael Baker Corp., Moon

• Morgan Stanley, New York City

• National Economic Research Associates Inc, Philadelphia

• Navigant Consulting, Pittsburgh

• Nossaman, Guthner, Knox & Elliott LLP, Los Angeles

• Parsons Brinckerhoff, New York City

• PBS&J, Coraopolis

• Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Harrisburg

• Ramirez & Co., New York City

• Rand Corp., Santa Monica, Calif.

• RBC Capital Markets, St. Petersburg, Fla.

• RREEF America LLC, New York City

• The Carlyle Group, New York City

• Transurban (USA) Development Inc., New York City

• UBS Investment Bank, New York City

• Vantage Point Associates Inc., Norwalk, Conn., and The Public Private Strategy Group, Philadelphia

• Wachovia Capital Markets LLC, Charlotte, N.C.

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