The Department of Transportation has dissolved all its privately funded road projects in the state. The DOT says its part of a plan to revamp a program meant to lure private money to transportation projects.

A few major toll lane projects around metro-Atlanta in the works for years now are no more… for the time being.

The toll lane in the state is a brain child of private companies that saw an opportunity to make money, but a 2009 law has changed how public private partnerships in transportation work.

Now, the state must initiate the process.

The program’s director Earl Mahfuz says it empowers the DOT and also encourages competition in the industry.

"As opposed to randomly getting whatever the industry wants to get us based on their choices, this is going to be done in a systematic process based on which projects have the greatest need and are most affordable.”

Mahfuz says later this week, the DOT will announce a list of projects high on their priority list.

Those toll lanes could be on it, but so could high speed rail and intercity transit, which would be a jump from the program's history which only considered roads.

Tags: Department of Transportation, Earl Mahfuz, P3, toll roads, public private funding, public private partnerships, toll lane