Ralph Stanley RIP
You may view his obituary in the Washington Post

The privatization community lost a dear friend.  On Monday, April 2, 2001, in Alexandria, Virginia, Ralph Stanley, a specialist in private sector solutions to transportation issues, died after a long illness.  I first met Ralph at the Leesburg, Virginia office of a venture company he created to finance and build a tollroad from Dulles Airport to Leesburg.  The first private tollroad built in Virginia since the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Stanley was justifiably proud of what he was attempting.   I next saw him in Portland, Oregon where, as Vice President of Bechtel, he was responsible for a light rail extension venture, and oversight of the economic development that would follow along the rail line's course.  He proudly told me of the new economic activity that had been created along the Dulles "Greenway," and that bankers who wouldn't finance its construction were now takingnotice that something new and significant was occurring.

Fighting bankers, and government officials, is part of the job of anyone in the privatization business, and Ralph became knowledgeable in all the nuances of such infighting in order to work around   the Commonwealth of Virginia's bloated Department of Transportation.  An Agency that should have been a partner in building the new "Greenway" simply sat on its hands while one courageous young man demonstrated what the private sector could achieve all over the United States.

That Agency is responsible, along with elected officials ignorant of private sector solutions to our transportation needs, for the neglect of our Virginia's transportation infrastructure.  What Ralph Stanley demonstrated was that, a mix of government and private initiatives, could build new Beltways, tunnels, privately operated tollroads and privatized airports. Instead, we get symbolic acts such as when the Congress of the United States honored President Ronald Reagan by naming "National" airport after him.  A greater honor, and one in keeping with the "Gipper's" and Ralph Stanley's spirit, would have been to sell it to a private company.

Ralph Stanley's private tollroad, and the public/private partnership he put together to build a light rail extension in Portland, showed the way for future development of transportation solutions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the state of Oregon, and other states. Until Ralph Stanley's example is followed, and the privatization solution to transportation problems is explored, suburban citizens will sit in traffic and wistfully remember when they could get to and from work in less than an hour.

In a country that struggled for an eight hour workday, citizens of 21st century America regularly spend eight hours at work, and four hours on the road to and from work. The twelve hour day is back, largely due to failure of elected officials to see beyond spending public money for transportation.  It is common for workers with jobs in Washington, DC and live in West Virginia, to leave home at 4:00 AM and return at nightfall.  In Maryland, workers as far away as Annapolis, and beyond, make a daily commute to downtown Washington, arriving tired, harried, and worried about children in daycare, problems with teachers, and other family members.  Travellers using the one north-south highway linking East coast travellers from Florida to Maine frequently experience the nightmare of congestion, or sudden death, at key points where government has failed to seek private sector solutions. America's Interstate Highway System, largely built from wealth created from post-World War II prosperity, hasn't been supplanted by new highways--nor will it--until a generational change in public philosophy occurs.

Transportation in America requires a return to the philosophy of  limited government of the Founders--and Ralph Stanley. Fortunately, we have Ralph's private "Greenway" and his light rail extension in Portland, Oregon to guide us to clearer thinking about transportation for modern America.