The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

Aiding and Abetting Road Socialism 387
States Poole:
ROAD DEATHS
[O]ur highway systems are in trouble. They face four main
problems:
1. Traffic Congestion. In the 68 largest U.S. metro areas,
motorists lose a total of $72 billion per year in wasted fuel and
time, due to traffic congestion;
2. Lack of Expansion. From 1987 to 1997, U.S. vehicle miles traveled
increased 34 percent, yet only 3 percent more lane-miles
were added;
3. Funding Shortfalls. In 1997, the U.S. invested $43 billion in
rebuilding and capacity additions, but to [sic] simply to maintain
the system’s asset value, we should have spent $51 billion—to
keep pace with growth would have required $83 billion;
and
4. Anti-highway Politics. A large coalition of environmental,
urban planning, and transit organizations opposes highway
expansion and advocates shifting highway funds to public
transit, bikeways, etc. Their mantra is: “We can’t build our way
out of congestion.”
The U.S. highway system is failing to satisfy its customers,
and its ability to do so is more constrained with each passing
year. We need a new highway paradigm for the 21st century. 21
Minor difficulty: the people who use U.S. highways are not
“customers.” Very much to the contrary, those accurately
depicted by such verbiage make a decision as to whether or not
to patronize a given supplier, and are as free to pay and receive
the service as they are to eschew it and not be billed for it. For
example, movies, bookstores and groceries: each of them deals
with customers. In very sharp contrast indeed, all residents of the
21 www.rppi.org/pbrief19.html.