The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

238 The Privatization of Roads and Highways
U.S.S.R., why should it be supposed it would function adequately
on any nation’s roads or its city’s streets? This literature,
further, deals with issues of eminent domain, bankruptcy,
encroaching (a private road owner surrounds a domicile with
concrete, and will not permit access or egress), monopoly, street
sweeping, profiteering, policing, traffic lights, dealing with bad
weather conditions, drunken motorists, etc.
It is important to realize, too, that there are numerous real
world examples of private streets which function highly effectively.
These include the private streets of St. Louis; the streets
internal to shopping malls and shopping centers (even the aisles
of groceries and department stores may be considered for our
purposes in this regard); gated communities worldwide, and the
rural roads owned by associations of property owners in Finland
and Sweden. 5 Contrast the private streets in Disney World with
those in New York City’s famous Central Park; it is no accident
that the former are safe for passersby, while the latter have been
the location of numerous murders and rapes.
Yes, yet another article along these lines would still have a
high marginal product, given that there are still no fully private
road initiatives being undertaken at the present time. (The quasiprivate
highways now in operation in Virginia and California are
not exceptions. The goal of road privatization is to turn vehicular
thoroughfares fully into the hands of private enterprise; in these
cases, the state is still the ultimate owner.) On the other hand,
hardly any work at all has been done on the practical issue of
converting the present collectivism which earmarks road management
to free enterprise. This, too, is worthy of considering,
both because it can also move forward the analysis of private
streets, and can offer, as shall be seen, interesting economic
insights of its own. It is to that task that we now turn.
5 I owe this point to an anonymous referee of “Planning and Marketing.”