WASHINGTON A coalition of highway user groups has been organized to battle the trend toward privatization or leasing of existing toll roads, bridges and tunnels to private investors.

Early members of the coalition include the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the American Highway Users Alliance, the National Association of Truck Stop Operators, and the American Trucking Associations.

Called the Americans for a Strong National Highway Network, the coalitions aim is "to advance the rights of American motorists to travel on safe, reliable public roads; maintain a robust national highway network for the efficient transport of goods and the military, and to hold government accountable for ensuring financing is transparent, motivated by public good, and dedicated to transportation purposes.

"The sale or lease of existing toll facilities generates revenue at great expense to taxpayers and the trucking industry, and carries potential negative impacts on highway safety, security and the motoring public," said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves.

"We must consider the long-term impact privatization will have on our nation's transportation system and explore all available financing options to ensure that the government is motivated by public good and transportation purposes," Graves, a former governor of Kansas, added.

Supporting the coalition is Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. "For the Bush Administration, the rush to promote public-private partnerships is based in ideology, not a critical evaluation of how public-private partnerships might help meet the goal of an improved, integrated national transportation system and further the public interest," said DeFazio.

Several members of the coalition have previously stated their strong opposition to the lease or sale of existing toll roads, bridges or tunnels to private groups, and has called on federal and state governments to abandon the financing technique.

Truckers support a toll-free national highway system where money to finance highway improvements primarily comes from highway user fees, such as the fuel tax.