The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

Privatize Public Highways 231
Thomas Petri, chairman in the 104th Congress of the House Surface
Transportation Subcommittee, if each Federal Express and
United Parcel Service driver encounters traffic delays for five
minutes in a day, the cost mounts to $40 million over the course
of a year. Multiplying this by all U.S. drivers gives some rough
indicator of the cost to society.
The government has come up with ways to address the traffic
problem, but none has worked. For example, the federal government
has called for employers to stagger work hours for their
employees so that the traffic coming into urban areas would be
spread out more. In some states, special lanes for high-occupancy
vehicles have been constructed at great expense. For many drivers,
the inconvenience or impracticality of carpooling overrides
the benefit of such a contrivance.
Owners of private highways would undoubtedly offer
cheaper rates at off-peak times, thus providing a monetary incentive
for staggered work hours. With today’s highways, governments,
too, could employ such a procedure. But instead of charging
more for peak-load travelers, the state usually charges less. It
is common to reduce the price for regular commuters who purchase
tokens for forty or more trips a month. These are precisely
the peak-load users who add to the congestion.
Other solutions the government has come up with are oneway
streets and limited turns in busy areas. While these are
intended to cut down on traffic, the secondary effects are often
the opposite. The restrictions may necessitate circuitous routes
and drivers may end up driving more. This increases the amount
of miles driven in certain areas within a constrained time period.
Under private ownership, the builder of a road would want
to secure the highest profits with the least cost. The builder
would consider the businesses and residents located near the
highway. A system where the transportation owners worked
cooperatively with industry and residents would encourage efficiency
as well as profits for the road owner.
The owner of a private highway would need to satisfy the
customer in order to make profits. The governmental (public)