HARRISBURG -- Gov. Ed Rendell won't meet his deadline of today for making public up to 14 bids from private firms seeking to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Two weeks ago he said he planned to release the billion-dollar bids by the end of April, but that deadline has been "extended for a short period, a few days, maybe a week or two, but not a significant delay,'' his aide, Chuck Ardo, said today.

He said that the state's financial advisor on the turnpike deal, Morgan Stanley, thinks the bids could be higher if the state delayed for a short period.

He wouldn't say what the dollar value of the bids might be, but Morgan Stanley earlier had estimated that private bidders could offer a one-time payment of $12 billion to $16 billion for a 75-year lease of the toll road.

Leasing the turnpike is the governor's preferred method of raising at least $1 billion a year for decades into the future to repair roads and bridges and help pay for mass transit systems. Mr. Rendell said that if a lease is approved by the Legislature, the plans to put tolls on Interstate 80 can be eliminated.

Mr. Ardo said the governor's goal for having the Legislature approve the highest bid is still June 10, but many legislators have said that is unrealistic, given the detailed nature of the lease and the fact that many people oppose a lease. A group of Teamsters, who represent hundreds of toll takers, protested the lease idea yesterday at the Capitol.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.