Bob Poole is well-known for two things. First, he was one of the founders of Reason magazine in 1970, giving the nation a consistently libertarian investigative magazine. Second, he has devoted most of his career to the analysis of America’s transportation problems, especially our highways. This book brings together decades of his research with the objective of showing how we could enjoy a far more efficient highway system if we would shift away from the heavily politicized approach to roadway funding that has predominated for more than a century, in favor of a utility model. In short, Poole argues that we should build and maintain our roads the same way we build and maintain our water and electric utilities: customers pay companies for their use.

Stuck in the past / We are rapidly approaching a turning point regarding highway policy, Poole argues. The reason is that our old funding model for highways is breaking down just as many of our ill-maintained roads and bridges are.

Ever since the Great Depression, we have relied primarily on the federal gas tax to provide the money needed for roadways. At that time there was no convenient way to meter the amount of driving Americans did, so the best way to fund road construction was to tax gasoline and diesel purchases. Over the years, Congress often raised the amount of that tax, but it has not done so since 1993. The taxes on gasoline and diesel have been 18.4¢ cents and 24.4¢, respectively, per gallon for a quarter-century. Moreover, fuel economy has improved steadily and a small but growing percentage of vehicles use relatively little or none of those fuels. As a result, the federal gas tax is less and less able to pay for our current highway system, much less any major upgrades.

And our highway system certainly could use some upgrading. Poole cites research showing that Americans waste at least $160 billion per year because of highway congestion. Rational investments could greatly reduce that cost while modernizing many bridges that, though not “crumbling” (contrary to the claims of politicians eager for public money for their districts), are on their way to obsolescence. (Among the virtues of Poole’s writing is that he takes down exaggerated claims on both sides. He likes cool, sober analysis.)

Mired in politics / The main reason why we are behind some other countries in the modernization of highways is that our system is so entwined in politics. Resources are frittered away on low-priority projects, some of which don’t have the slightest connection to roads. Special interest groups involved in transportation are good at using their political clout to block changes to the roadway funding system that would upset what’s for them a comfortable status quo.

The federal Highway Trust Fund, Poole writes, has been gradually converted into “an all-purpose public transportation works program.” Money the public believes is going to highways is increasingly spent on other things like “urban transit, bike paths, sidewalks, recreational trails, historical preservation, and even transportation museums.” Naturally, voters are opposed to increasing the gas tax, in part because much of the money will get siphoned away into the kinds of projects that politicians love to brag about when they want to show their constituents that they’re “bringing home the bacon.”

Legislative maneuvering also undermines state highway funding. Prospective efficiency improvements are often delayed or completely sidetracked because each representative wants some chunk of the spending for his district.

Democracy has saddled us with a very suboptimal highway system. What America needs to do, Poole argues, is escape from “the mistaken belief that highways are the kind of thing that only government can provide.” History offers alternatives. In our early years, many toll roads were built privately and, as you would expect, cost less to construct than government roads. The federally built National Road that was begun in 1811 to open access to the Northwest Territories cost $13,000 per mile, whereas the contemporaneous and private Lancaster Turnpike in Pennsylvania cost only $7,500 per mile.

Unfortunately, private roads suffered from travelers avoiding paying the tolls. Most toll road companies went bankrupt. Government stepped in and the idea that roads must be provided by government took hold. However, modern technology has found ways to prevent this public goods problem—if only the United States would give private roads greater support.

Further harming roadway mobility in the United States is the popularization of the notion that America “can’t build its way out of highway congestion” and therefore ought to “get people out of their cars” and into governmental mass transit. On the contrary, Poole argues, we can build our way out of congestion if we allow the market to work, albeit usually in conjunction with government. Privately financed and operated highways can and do work, as he shows with numerous examples from both the United States and abroad.

The new toll roads / Highway privatization has been embraced in Europe, Asia, and South America for decades. Italy approved the first modern investor-owned toll road in 1921 and a network of privately owned highways now operates there. Beginning in 1955, the French have built numerous tolled highways, usually financed with a combination of private and government funding. It is now common for the government to seek competitive bids from companies for new construction, such as the astonishingly beautiful Millau Viaduct that Poole pictures on the book’s cover. Spain and Portugal have followed France in turning to private firms operating under toll concessions for improvements in their highway systems. So have Australia, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and Chile.

Privately financed and operated toll roads are not, of course, unknown in the United States. Poole recounts in great detail the first such project here, the Dulles Greenway toll road extension. It was the brainchild of Reagan administration transportation official Ralph Stanley, who lobbied for the necessary legislation in Virginia and then oversaw the project, which opened six months ahead of schedule in 1995.

At the same time on the other side of the country, private toll roads were coming to the rescue of congestion-desperate drivers in California. The state legislature had approved a bill allowing up to four privately funded toll roads in the state. The SR-91 “express lane” toll road in Southern California was the first to open and was an immediate success.

Of course, some private highway projects have been losers, just as you would expect in any business. For example, the “Southern Connector” in Greenville, SC opened in 2001 and declared bankruptcy in 2010. The losses, however, fell upon the road’s investors, not taxpayers. The creditors restructured their bonds and the roadway continues to operate today. The Dulles Greenway also experienced defaults in its early years and underwent a massive refinancing in 1999, but since has come good. (See “A New Approach to Private Roads,” Fall 2002.)

Bringing in the innovative thinking and know-how of the private sector has proven extremely beneficial in some states, particularly Florida. Poole explains how partnering with one of the French highway firms enabled Florida’s Department of Transportation to save a great deal of money in its Port of Miami Tunnel, built to alleviate congestion and wear-and-tear on surface streets from heavy trucks.

The bulk of the book is about highways, but Poole devotes a chapter to possible improvements in urban expressways and arterial roads. He envisions transponder technology, which enables road companies to bill drivers based on the amount and times they use roads as the key to revitalization and improved efficiency.

Prognosis / I find persuasive and appealing Poole’s vision of depoliticizing roads and highways, turning them into network utilities where customers pay regular bills based on usage. But there are some powerful opposition groups who want to prevent that from happening.

First, there are conservative/​populist enemies who fight any suggestion of privatization because “we already pay for roads with taxes” and anything more is “double taxation.” A relative handful of pundits, bloggers, and radio talk show hosts can move masses of people to register their opposition to toll roads. The cogency of the case for escaping from road socialism into a free market doesn’t seem to have any effect on those people. Anti-toll forces of this sort have been especially effective in Texas.

Second, there are left-wing enemies who influence policy with claims that the roads rightfully belong to the people and private firms shouldn’t profit from them. These critics argue against “selling our infrastructure” and quite a few Americans are persuaded by them.

Finally, there are interest groups that are wedded to the status quo. Governmental toll entities, for instance, do not want any competition that would threaten their comfortable jobs. In 2007, when Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell advanced a plan to privatize the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the existing toll authority fought and eventually defeated it. An even bigger obstacle is the panoply of environmental groups that dislike cars and oppose changes that would make driving more efficient.

In short, the road to the kind of market-based highway utility Poole has in mind is cracked and strewn with potholes. Nevertheless, he is optimistic. The good record of toll highways here and abroad should ultimately persuade people, but even more significant will be the federal government’s increasingly dire fiscal situation. As entitlements eat up more and more federal revenue, turning to the private sector to build and maintain our highways will become very hard to resist.

Poole concludes by stating that the Interstate Highway System is wearing out and will have to be replaced at a cost of around $1 trillion. At present, we do not have a funding source for this. The good news, he writes, is that “large-scale investment capital is waiting for the opportunity to invest in replacing and modernizing U.S. highway infrastructure. It’s time to begin the transition to this new and better model for 21st century highways.”