LANSING – Sell the Blue Water Bridge?

That's among the ideas being floated in Lansing to raise money for road repairs.

State Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, told the Free Press on Wednesday the Republican caucus is considering selling a number of state-owned transportation assets, including the Blue Water Bridge, four state-owned airports, and a number of freeway welcome centers.

He said the sale of the bridge between Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario, could raise as much as $800 million — money that could be used to fix the roads, as an alternative to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's proposed 45-cent-per-gallon fuel tax increase.

A call for proposals for a possible sale could be included in the House transportation budget, which is nearing completion, Maddock said.

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The Blue Water Bridge is actually two bridges, since the original span, opened to traffic in 1938, was twinned with a second bridge that opened to traffic in 1997. But the state only owns the U.S. side of each bridge. The Canadian government owns the other half of each.

Jeff Cranson, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation, said the state still owes just under $90 million on the second span, with the final payment scheduled for 2037. He declined comment on the idea of selling the plan.

If a call for proposals for a possible bridge sale is included in the House version of the 2020 budget, it's not clear whether it would also be included in the Senate version of the budget, or in the blended House-Senate budget that is often developed by a conference committee from the two chambers.

Whitmer has line-item veto power over the budget. Her office had no immediate comment.

Governments sometimes privatize revenue-generating assets, such as toll bridges or toll roads, as a way of raising significant one-time funds and sometimes shedding ongoing operating and maintenance costs. Some lawmakers believe private companies are in a much better position to operate such assets at a profit.

Under former Gov. Mitch Daniels, the Indiana Toll Road was turned over to private operators in 2005, in return for a $3.8-billion upfront payment, according to Forbes Magazine. That private consortium ran into financial difficulties during the recession and another investment consortium purchased the lease out of bankruptcy in 2015.

Maddock said there could be a large number of bidders on the Blue Water Bridge, including large financial institutions and pension funds. He wouldn't comment on whether metro Detroit businessman Manuel "Matty" Moroun, who owns the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, might be a bidder.

"Come to Detroit, and I will show you how selling a bridge to a private owner is a bad, no terrible, idea," tweeted U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who has clashed with Moroun over issues affecting residents who live near the bridge in southwest Detroit.

Maddock said the state shouldn't be owning airports, or welcome centers in the middle of the state, such as one in Clare.

State Rep. Joe Bellino, R-Monroe, a member of the House Transportation Committee, said Wednesday he supports exploring the possible sale of numerous state assets.

"Why do we own airplanes?" Bellino asked. "Why do we own rail lines? Why do we own a bridge?" he asked. "Let's put some proposals out there and see what they're worth."

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.