Feb 24, 2006 Grain Valley, MO - The Owner-Operator Independent Driver's Association remains strongly opposed to the sale of America's roadways to foreign investors, as legislation involving the Indiana Toll Road moves forward.

The Indiana Senate Appropriations Committee has voted along party lines 8-to-4 in favor of a bill that would lease the 157-mile northern Indiana highway for 75 years to a foreign consortium from Spain and Australia for $3.8 billion.

OOIDA believes the toll road is not the governor's to sell and that it belongs to the people of Indiana and to the highway users who have paid for it and continue to pay for it with their tolls and taxes.

"The governor is mortgaging the future of the state of Indiana," says OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer, who traveled to Indiana last week to testify against the bill. "These leases sound like a lot of money on the front end, but what about when the money runs out? What do you put on the auction block next?"

In addition to highways, the legislation also gives the governor the authority to lease other transportation infrastructure including river ports and airports.

The bill passed the Republican-controlled House in a party-line vote and now goes before the full Republican-dominated Senate.

Contact: John Liebnitz, Public Relations Coordinator (816) 229-5791

Founded in 1973, OOIDA is the largest organization of professional truckers in the country, comprised of more than 134,000 owner-operators, professional drivers and small business truckers from all 50 states and Canada.