The Commonwealth Foundation, a Harrisburg-based conservative think tank, has announced that "The first bid is in!" to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

It represented that the "bid" emanated from the turnpike itself and amounted to "only $5.3 billion a year."

"What bid?" turnpike Chief Executive Officer Joe Brimmeier declared yesterday upon learning about the foundation's news release.

"That's ridiculous," he said. "We haven't submitted any bid. This is nothing more than another attempt by a special-interest group to make a case for private interests who want to take over a public road. What do they want to take over next? The Liberty Bell?"

The Commonwealth Foundation said it based the $5.3 billion figure on the upfront amount of money necessary to generate the $450 million a year that the turnpike would provide to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to fund roads, bridges and transit under the current Act 44 funding plan.

"We wanted to be able to make an apples-to-apples comparison and provide a benchmark" for a 75-year turnpike lease being pursued by Gov. Ed Rendell, said Matthew Brouillette, president of the Commonwealth Foundation. "The only means we can compare the bids is to determine the equivalent value of the turnpike's lease payments."

Mr. Brimmeier suggested the foundation wants to sway public opinion by trying to demonstrate that any forthcoming lease offer of more $5.3 billion from private investment firms would be better than the partnership that Act 44, a transportation funding measure enacted by the Legislature, created between the turnpike commission and PennDOT.

"We have an $84 billion deal on the table," Mr. Brimmeier said of Act 44, referring to the amount of money the toll road agency is to provide PennDOT over 50 years by continuing to operate the turnpike as well as Interstate 80, a move that will require approval from the Federal Highway Administration. It already has filled a first-year, $750 million commitment to PennDOT and is to provide $850 million for the 2008-09 fiscal year that begins July 1.

At a meeting with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board on Monday, Mr. Rendell's deputy chief of staff, Roy Kienitz, said the administration expects proposals for a 75-year turnpike lease to be ready and announced within several weeks; that no more than five bids are expected; and the range will be "at the lower end" of estimates between $12 billion and $18 billion.

If the lease fetches sufficient revenue to fund the state's transportation programs, Mr. Kienitz said, the governor will seek speedy legislative approval and revisions to Act 44 to drop plans to toll I-80.

Mr. Brouillette said he wasn't surprised to hear that bids to lease the turnpike may come in lower than previously expected because of recent turmoil in the world credit market.

He estimated bids will be at least double of the equivalent from the Pennsylvania Turnpike without tolling I-80, or $10.6 billion. "Even then," he said, "it's a much better deal for taxpayers and toll payers."

If private investment firms like those that purchased rights to the Chicago Skyway and Indiana Toll Road in recent years were able to bid on tolling I-80 as the turnpike has been authorized to do under Act 44, "we'd be talking serious cash, because the successful bidder would have a monopoly on major east-west routes through Pennsylvania," Mr. Brouillette said.

When the Commonwealth Foundation arrived at the $5.3 billion figure that would generate $450 million a year for PennDOT, he said it assumed an 8.5 percent return on investment.

"These companies are bidding on the turnpike alone, with strict limits on toll rates, mandates for investments, penalties for failures to perform and requirements to keep current employees," Mr. Brouillette said. "The effective 'bid' of $5.3 billion provides lawmakers and the general public with a good benchmark from which to consider all other bids."

He said the foundation has nothing to gain financially and no hidden motive but was providing the information as part of its mission to advance public policies favoring limited government involvement and economic freedom.