HARRISBURG -- Legislation is on tap to permit private groups to buy or take long-term leases on state-owned roads and bridges. It also would permit private firms to build or expand highways or bridges, possibly with tolls, in areas of the state that need them.

A bill to create such public-private partnerships on roads, bridges and maybe even mass transit will be introduced in the House and Senate in October, Craig Shuey, director of the Senate Transportation Committee, said yesterday at a hearing on the state's current transportation funding crisis.

Creating public-private partnerships to build, add new lanes to and/or operate highways and bridges are at least months away from happening.

But the legislation could result in things like having a private consortium build the missing sections of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, for which the state still needs $2 billion.

The bill could also result in the Turnpike Commission leasing parts of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private operator who would collect the tolls and make the repairs; in the Philadelphia area, it could result in a private firm building an upper deck on the heavily-traveled Schuylkill Expressway; or in the State College area, a private firm could expand two-lane sections of Route 322 into four lanes to handle the large crowds on Penn State football days.

The idea of letting private engineering/construction groups own and operate what have always been public roads and bridges was one of the major ideas discussed yesterday at the sixth and final public hearing of the Transportation Funding and Reform Commission.

"Billions and billions of dollars can be raised by public-private partnerships'' on transportation projects, said former U.S. Rep. Bud Shuster of Bedford County, who was a major power in securing federal transportation funding for Pennsylvania during his days in Congress.

"Leasing part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike [to a private operator] is one way to get such money,'' he said. "The Mon-Fayette Expressway, which must be completed, still needs $2 billion and the money isn't there.''

The transportation commission is due to issue a report Nov. 15 recommending new taxes and other ways of raising between $800 million and $2.2 billion to improve hundreds of miles of roads in the state, hundreds of rusting bridges and deficit-ridden mass transit agencies, including the big ones in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

The report will almost certainly recommend increases in some taxes, like the 6 percent state sales tax, the 3.07 percent personal income tax, or the 31.5-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax, or else higher fees, like the $36 a year vehicle registration fee.

Creating public-private partnerships to sell the rights to own or operate roads, bridges or even transit systems is one alternative to higher taxes.

Robert Latham of Associated Pennsylvania Constructors, a road-building group, joined Mr. Shuster in urging consideration of such public-private partnerships.

"In general, we support the exploration of [such] partnerships, for transit lines as well as for highways,'' he said.

But he had one cautionary note, saying that any funds the state gains from the sale or long-term lease of a road or bridge should be used strictly for transportation improvements.

Mr. Shuster said he doesn't think that tax increases alone can generate the huge amount of money needed to improve roads, bridges and mass transit -- up to $2.2 billion.

Currently, the sale or lease of state roads and bridges to a private group isn't permitted by law. But that could change next month when the bill to at least permit the concept to be explored is introduced.

Mr. Shuey said the bill is the product of work over the last few months by separate panels in the House and Senate, each one called a "select committee on innovative transportation funding.''

Mr. Shuster said that perhaps private firms from other countries shouldn't be allowed to buy Pennsylvania roads. He noted the political controversy that resulted a few months ago when the federal government talked about turning over control of some U.S. ports to foreign companies.

"Selling American infrastructure to foreign companies could be a volatile issue,'' he said.