Indiana Toll Road Operator Files For Bankruptcy

This week, the operator of the Indiana Toll Road , which spans 157 miles connecting Ohio and Chicago, filed for bankruptcy.

ITR Concession Company — which is owned by a Spanish infrastructure company Ferrovial and an Australian investment bank Macquarie -- paid $3.8 billion to lease the Northern Indiana highway I-80/ I-90 for 75 years.

But after traffic decreased, the investment went bust.

Hani Mahmassani, director of Northwestern University Transportation Center and a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, joins Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson to discuss private owners of public highways and the reasons states lease their roads.