LEWISTON – Maine faces an estimated $1.5 billion in unmet transportation needs statewide without a clear way to fund the necessary work.

Borrowing the money, through the sale of bonds, is one option that has consistently won support in the state, but stalled last year because some members of the Legislature worry that Maine already has too much debt. Another is to raise taxes – particularly the fuel tax or tolls – or to shift resources from other parts of the state budget.

Pennsylvania, however, is exploring an option that political leaders there say could provide billions of dollars for the state’s infrastructure without new taxes, new borrowing or less spending in other areas.

The state is accepting bids – the deadline is Dec. 22 – for private companies to purchase or lease its 537-mile-long turnpike.

Estimates on the value of a long-term lease vary widely, according to media reports from Pennsylvania. Gov. Ed Rendell told The Associated Press that the deal could bring in between $2.5 billion and $10 billion, while Pennsylvania House Speaker John Perzel said it could be worth $30 billion.

The idea of leasing public toll roads to private investors was recently discussed at the Maine Better Transportation Association’s annual conference, but the reviews weren’t good and the idea hasn’t gained serious traction here.

“I don’t like the politics of it, and I have serious questions about the public policy,” said Joe Giglio, a professor at Northeastern University, an expert on transportation funding and the keynote speaker at the MBTA conference. “I love the private sector. It generates a lot of growth, but how many examples have we seen of bubbles where people overpay for an asset.”

Giglio, a former executive vice president at Smith Barney, author and chairman of President Ronald Reagan’s National Council on Public Works Improvement, said that the lease deals could be the result of politicians looking to avoid difficult decisions.

“If we’re really concerned about paying for transportation, the way to deal with it is to increase the fuel tax or user fees,” Giglio said. “Politically, people don’t have the stomach to do that.”

Pennsylvania isn’t the first state to consider privatizing its turnpike. In June, the AP reported, Indiana signed a 75-year lease for the Indiana Toll Road to an Australian-Spanish consortium, Macquarie-Cintra. The state received $3.8 billion. Chicago also leased the Chicago Skyway to Macquarie-Cintra for 99 years. The city received $1.83 billion.

Greg Nadeau, deputy commissioner for the Maine Department of Transportation, said the deals had come up in conversation, but that he was unaware of any serious consideration of privatizing the Maine Turnpike for upfront money to fund other transportation improvements.

“There’s a lot of talk going on right now about a long-range plan,” Nadeau said. “One of the things that’s going to come up is how to pay for emerging needs.”

The Department of Transportation, he said, has no formal policy concerning the prospects for selling or leasing the turnpike, and the turnpike’s board of directors, on which he sits, hasn’t formally considered it.

“I don’t view it as an ideal way to fund your fundamental transportation needs,” Nadeau said.

Beyond practical questions of how much revenue such an agreement could raise, Nadeau said, another big concern would be giving up control of the state’s most important road.

“It’s not that it can’t be done,” Nadeau said. “It’s being done in other parts of the country and that’s the big debate. In fairness, we haven’t looked at it seriously.”

Dan Paradee of the Maine Turnpike Authority was also skeptical.

“This is a really convenient way for legislatures to get themselves out of budget problems, while passing off the problems of the turnpike to others,” Paradee said.

While the money might be a nice boost, the private investors have to run the road for profit, Paradee said.

“You’re either going to have to raise the tolls or decrease the standards of operation,” Paradee said. “And the upfront money is going to go away and then they’re going to have this huge asset that runs up the middle of the state that someone else owns.”

For Giglio, the rhetoric around leasing a toll road is exceeding the reality.

“I’m all for privatization,” Giglio said. “But it always comes back to two very important questions: What are you trying to accomplish and why? The what and why are the content questions and they’re tough.”

If the goal is a more integrated transportation system, breaking off significant parts of it for private ownership goes in the wrong direction, he said. Regional cooperation, among states and even countries with an eye toward spurring economic and trade growth, is a better strategy.

“The jury is still out. One or two deals, or three or four deals don’t make a trade,” Giglio said. “What are the unintended consequences?”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.