by Neville Kennard, veteran preaching and practising capitalist

Because roads are mostly publicly-owned the economics of traffic, of traffic-jams, of breakdowns and disruption, of accidents is not presented or costed in economic terms. Costs and delays to commuters and to trucks and commercial traffic is not counted in dollar terms.

If roads were privately-owned, as they should be, the owners of good, safe, fast roads would spell out the economic advantages of their better roads over the costs and delays of their competitors’ slow, dangerous uncomfortable roads.

It is a Tragedy of the Commons, where public roads get under-charged (in direct cost terms) and over-used. Rationing of use of public roads is by inconvenience and traffic-nuisance rather than by price. The Sydney Harbour Bridge changes toll charges in peak-hours. Were the Sydney Harbour Bridge sold off, privatised, and competitive bridges and tunnels allowed to compete for service and safety and convenience we could see great strides in our motoring and commuting and commercial travelling experiences.

We could see High Speed Lanes where suitably qualified vehicles and drivers could travel at much higher speeds and be charged accordingly. How much would you pay to drive your Ferrari at 250 KPH on a beautiful safe road? Isn’t that why you bought a Ferrari?

We could see Accident Prevention Innovations as Highway Owners sought to give their driver-customers an optimal experience. We could see traffic flow innovations as Highway-Owners sought to keep the customers on their road and not defect to the opposition.

“Privatise Everything” is the Hoppean (Prof Hans Hermann Hoppe) mantra. And to start with, streets and roads, as they were among the first Public Properties.

Traffic Economics, Road Economics, Street Economics — getting the politics out of roads, streets, highways and traffic is an essential part of allowing the market to do its thing and perform its wonders.

I have an idea for Tunnel Title, where entrepreneurs can Homestead the land beneath cities and farms, beneath roads and rivers and harbours. With Tunnel Title the ownership is absolute, full title and ownership, so the Tunnel and Highway developer and operator and owner has normal freehold property rights, forever or until he wants to sell, lease or otherwise voluntarily dispose of his property.

Recommended readings on privatising roads

  1. https://mises.org/library/man-economy-and-state-power-and-market/html/p/1436
  2. https://mises.org/library/privatization-roads-and-highways
  3. https://economics.org.au/2010/12/singo-and-howard-support-sydney-harbour-bridge-restructure/
  4. http://libertarianpapers.org/wp-content/uploads/article/2011/lp-3-1.pdf