The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

72 The Privatization of Roads and Highways
towns. They would only repeat the problem. And since Owen is
not urging the creation of new towns by private enterprise,
where the price system would be allowed to operate on the roadways
and thereby guarantee an end to congestion, there is little
merit in his proposal.
But mere speculation as to the effect of new towns on congestion
is no longer necessary. Many such towns have been built
in the past several decades, in the U.S. and in other countries.
None of them has been noticeably congestion-free. In this case, at
least, the facts speak clearly for themselves.
(e) Expanding roads. One of the most popular antidotes to congestion
is to build more roads. This solution, benefiting from the
seeming presence of common sense, has attracted widespread
attention and praise. As Buchanan reports, “the recommended
solutions usually take the form of expansion and reconstruction
of the highway system, all of which involve considerable additional
investment of resources in highways and streets.” 36
Mohring goes even further. In his view,
Currently, the only technique being employed to an appreciable
extent to alleviate urban traffic congestion is investment in
additional highway capacity. Some of these additions to capacity
have involved widening or otherwise altering existing arterial
streets, but most of them have involved the construction of
entirely new, high-speed, limited-access expressways. 37
Even Brownlee and Heller, who might have been expected to
know better, given their understanding of the role of highway
prices, go along with the groundswell in favor of building our
way out of traffic congestion. They state that
36James M. Buchanan, “The Pricing of Highway Services,” National Tax
Journal 5, no. 2 (June 1952): 97. See also Smerk, Urban Transportation, p. 179;
and Norman L. Cooper, Urban Transportation: An Answer (Bloomington:
Bureau of Business Research, Indiana University, 1971), pp. 1, 15.
37Herbert Mohring, “Urban Highway Investments,” in Robert Dorfman,
ed., Measuring Benefits of Government Investments (Washington, D.C.: Brookings
Institution, 1965), p. 248.