Fear not. Our waterways are safe. There is no plan afoot to sell Port of Pittsburgh operating rights to the United Arab Emirates.

But as was reported last week, Pennsylvania Turnpike officials have met with an Australia-based investment firm to determine if it is interested in bankrolling the Mon-Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway.

Discussions dealt with granting the Sydney-based Macquarie Group a long-term lease to operate the toll roads and collect revenues in exchange for providing $3 billion in capital, including $2 billion to build the 24-mile northern section of the expressway to Pittsburgh.

Even if the turnpike allowed Macquarie to cherry-pick and invest in only the most lucrative piece -- spurs to Pittsburgh and Monroeville that would constitute a bypass to the congested Parkway East and Squirrel Hill Tunnel -- such a deal seems risky for the global company.

Consider some numbers, even optimistic ones.

Assuming use by 50,000 vehicles a day Monday through Friday, and 25,000 a day over weekends, that's 300,000 a week. At $2 for cars and $4 for commercial vehicles accounting for 10 percent of traffic, Macquarie would gross $34.3 million a year in revenue.

Subtract operating expenses for such items as accounting, insurance, servicing toll equipment and snow removal. Subtract an amount for long-term repairs and maintenance. Subtract debt payments.

I'm no financial expert, but I figure the Aussies might have to wait 100 years to start profiting from a $2 billion investment. Macquarie is no sucker.

Nonetheless, public-private investments in transportation infrastructure are a growing trend. And The Macquarie Group, with offices in 14 U.S. cities, is smack in the middle of the action as an investor and operator of toll projects in North America. To wit:

Dulles Greenway, Virginia -- The toll road was privately built to serve booming suburbs west of Washington, D.C. It has since been purchased by Macquarie, now widening the road to six lanes over the entire 14-mile length. Cars pay a $2.70 toll for end-to-end, one-way travel in peak periods.

Indiana Toll Road -- A $3.85 billion bid by Macquarie and an investment partner, Spain-based Cintra, is to be finalized this summer for a takeover of the state turnpike under a 75-year agreement. The 157-mile toll road carries 66 percent out-of-state traffic.

Chicago Skyway -- The Chicago Department of Streets entered into a 99-year, $1.83 billion lease agreement with Skyway Concession Co. LLC, also co-owned by Macquarie and Cintra. Skyway keeps all toll and concession revenues but it's responsible for maintaining the elevated, 7.8-mile toll facility built in 1958 to connect the Dan Ryan Expressway and Indiana Toll Road.

Detroit-Windsor Tunnel -- Rights to the border tunnel were purchased in 2001 by Detroit & Canada Tunnel Corp., a division of Macquarie North American Infrastructure Inc., which operates the tunnel under a lease agreement with Detroit and Windsor.

San Diego South Bay Expressway -- The 11-mile toll road is a public-private partnership, a regional freeway scheduled to open late this year. The public portion is a mix of federal funds and local sales tax. The private portion is California Ventures Inc., a Macquarie subsidiary in which it has a $160 million equity investment.

407 Express Toll Road, Toronto -- Macquarie is one part of a three-party consortium that formed 407 International Inc., the sole shareholder and manager of a 65-mile, east-west toll road that bypasses traffic-congested metropolitan Toronto. Average daily traffic on the electronically tolled highway -- as many as 16 lanes wide at one point -- exceeds 300,000.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has raised $1.8 billion thus far for its 100-mile network, with 35 miles of the Mon-Fayette Expressway completed, the first 6.4 miles of the Southern Beltway to open this fall, and everything else in final design, under environmental study or about to start (six miles between Uniontown and Brownsville).

Practically all of the money has been raised through turnpike-issued bonds that are being repaid from a $50 million-a-year share of state gasoline taxes and a flat $28 million a year from motor vehicle registration and fee increases of 1997.

The federal government has contributed only $63 million, or 3.5 percent, a pittance compared to the 90 percent it would normally be paying for what are essentially interstate highway projects.

As turnpike Chief Executive Officer Joe Brimmeier noted, public funds are drying up, especially in light of the $3 billion toll-road need, high gas prices and today's political climate after the Harrisburg pay grab.

Their vision for the future and perseverance notwithstanding, Mon-Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway supporters are running out of options.

More Mon-Fayette. David Sladack and his wife, of Rostraver, commute to work in Green Tree and Pittsburgh.

"Many residents like us would benefit greatly by the completion of this much-needed highway system," he e-mailed. "Any current news regarding the next steps would be appreciated."

You just read it.

Incidentally, I covered the groundbreaking for the Mon-Fayette Expressway. That was 33 years and 35 miles ago.

Elsewhere. During Superbowl XL, the Detroit People Mover reported total ridership of 215,910 over the five-day, Feb. 1-5 period, one of the highest traffic counts in the automated system's 18-year history.

Believe it! Trucks hauled 9.4 billion tons of freight in 2004, based on surveys of the American Trucking Associations' members representing all types of motor carriers.

Plate du jour. Bob Johnston, of Mt. Lebanon, spotted the Virginia license plate PGHER 4LF in town on the night before Super Bowl XL.