The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

42 The Privatization of Roads and Highways
road suppliers to rush in to fill the gap. If losses are made on
some roads, there are no road suppliers to close them down and
transfer their resources to other sectors of the economy. 31
Here we find several issues of contention. First, it is a rare
small town or village that is served by only one road, path, or cattle
track. Most places have several. But even allowing that in
many rural communities there is only one serviceable road, let us
note the discrepancy in Roth between roads and other services.
Most local towns and villages are also served by only one grocer,
butcher, baker, etc. Yet Roth would hardly contend that competition
cannot thereby exist in these areas. He knows that, even
though there is only one grocer in town, there is potential, if not
actual, competition from the grocer down the road, or in the next
town.
The situation is identical with roads. As we have seen, there
is always the likelihood of building another road next to the first,
if the established one proves highly popular and profitable.
There is also the possibility of building another road above, or
tunneling beneath the first road. In addition, competition is also
brought in through other transportation industries. There may be
a trolley line, railroad or subway linking this town with the outside
world. If there is not, and the first established road is very
profitable, such competition is always open in a free market.
Finally, we come to the statement, “If losses are made on
some roads, there are no road suppliers to close them down and
transfer their resources to other sectors of the economy.” We
agree, because a road is generally fixed geographically. An entrepreneur
would no more “move” a no longer profitable road, than
he would physically move an equivalently unprofitable farm, or
forest. More importantly, even if it were somehow economically
feasible to “move” an unprofitable road to a better locale, there
are no such road suppliers simply because private road ownership
is now prohibited.
31 Roth, Paying for Roads, p. 61.