The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

36 The Privatization of Roads and Highways
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Figure 3
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any number of zigzag paths: east along First Street to Avenue B;
north along Avenue B to Second Street; east again, along Second
Street to Avenue C; north on C to Third Street, etc. Additionally,
there are numerous intermediate paths between the pure zigzag
and the one turn.
These possibilities do not open an indefinitely large number
of paths, as might be required by the dictates of perfect competition.
However, they are sufficiently numerous to serve as the
basis for rivalrous competition, where one road entrepreneur, or
set of entrepreneurs, seeks to offer better and cheaper channels
for transportation than others.
Let us consider the traffic that wishes to go from the junction
of First Street and Avenue D to Ninth Street and Avenue D.
(Intersections can be seen as whole towns or cities, and streets as
actual or potential highways.) If Avenue D is owned by one firm,