The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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Transition to Private Roads *
Let us posit that the full privatization of all roads, streets,
avenues, thoroughfares, highways, and byways is the
proper goal of public policy. Here, we are assuming,
arguendo, that this end is desirable, 1 and are at present confining
*This chapter is dedicated to my skeptical friend, Bill Barnett, my colleague
at Loyola University New Orleans.
1For support of this contention see David Beito, “From Privies to Boulevards:
The Private Supply of Infrastructure in the United States during the
Nineteenth Century,” in Development by Consent: The Voluntary Supply of
Public Goods and Services, Jerry Jenkins and David E. Sisk, eds. (San Francisco,
1993), pp. 23–48; David Beito and Linda Royster Beito, “Rival Road
Builders: Private Toll Roads in Nevada, 1852–1880,” Nevada Historical Society
Quarterly 41 (Summer 1998): 71–91; David Beito, “Voluntary Association
and the Life of the City,” Humane Studies Review (Fall, 1988); idem, “Owning
the Commanding Heights,” Essays in Public Works History (1989), vol.
16; Walter Block, “Free Market Transportation: Denationalizing the Roads,”
Journal of Libertarian Studies 3, no. 2 (Summer, 1979): 209–38; idem, Zoning:
Its Costs and Relevance for the 1980s (Vancouver, B.C.: Fraser Institute, 1980),
pp. 299–330; idem, “Public Goods and Externalities: The Case of Roads,”
The Journal of Libertarian Studies: An Interdisciplinary Review 7, no. 1 (Spring,
1983): 1–34; idem, “Theories of Highway Safety,” Transportation Research
Record 912 (1983): 7–10; idem, “Road Socialism,” International Journal of
Value-Based Management 9 (1996): 195–207; Walter Block and Matthew Block,
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