Two bills have been introduced in Virginia that would authorize the sale of tax-exempt bonds by the government to buy the Dulles Greenway from Macquarie Atlas Roads. The toll road investment fund hasn’t made a penny of profit since Macquarie Bank acquired the 14-mile road in 2005 from northern Virginia investors with $675 million in debt.

Any takeover by the state would require users and taxpayers to assume substantial outstanding debt and a road that isn’t expected to show cash earnings until 2019, even with revenue-maximized tolls. All of the political opponents of  private operations have promised to reduce the Greenway tolls, which would increase the taxpayer subsidy.