Last year, Chicago sold its Skyway toll road for $1.83 billion — becoming the first state in the nation to sell an existing toll road, according to The Associated Press. In October, Texas entered into agreement with a Spanish company to build a 316-mile toll road. And Colorado is now studying whether to have private groups finance roads in the Denver.

As in Utah, toll roads in Colorado are a controversial topic, said Stacey Stegman, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation. "What's been hard is that tolling isn't a commonplace financing method in the Western states," she said. "I think a lot of that is fear and lack of education and understanding of the potential for toll roads."

Both UDOT and the governor's office support public-private partnerships. If Killpack's bill is passed, Utah could become one of the first in the nation to have a road operated under a public-private partnership.

"It's a new concept in general for the nation," said UDOT spokesman Nile Easton. "Other states are looking at it as well, but we're further along because we have an ongoing transportation study of the Mountain View Corridor that allows us to look at tolling and public-private partnerships."

On March 16, UDOT plans to hold a public meeting to discuss tolling in Utah. For more information about the Mountain View Corridor and the tolling study being done on the road, log on to www.udot.utah.gov. To read a copy of Killpack's bill, log on to www.le.state.ut.us.

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E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com