Driving over the Millau Viaduct in France, which forms part of a privately run toll highway

A private highway is a highway owned and operated for profit by private industry. Private highways have been constructed all over Europe; in addition, a few have been built in the United States on an experimental basis. Typically, the U.S. private highways are built by companies that charge tolls for a period of time while the debt is retired; then the highway is turned over to government control. By this means, cash-strapped governments can fulfill immediate transportation needs without privatizing the roads in the long term. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 284 KB) photo by Sébastien Bertrand downloaded from flickr File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Private highway ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 284 KB) photo by Sébastien Bertrand downloaded from flickr File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Private highway ... Panoramic view of Millau Viaduct from south-east side The Millau Viaduct (French: le Viaduc de Millau) is a cable-stayed road bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. ... Highway in Pennsylvania, USA For other uses, see Highway (disambiguation). ... Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ...

Arguments for and against private highways

Arguments for private highways

Privatization will encourage infrastructure construction and reduce congestion

Since traffic congestion is caused by there being more traffic than the highway can handle, one way to look at congestion is simply a shortage of roads, lanes, exits, or other infrastructure. Libertarian economists frequently cite the free market's pricing mechanism as a superior means of avoiding shortages than government planning. Peter Samuel's Highway Aggravation: The Case For Privatizing The Highways makes a provocative comparison between American traffic jams and Soviet grocery store lines: Traffic jams are common in heavily populated areas. ... Economic shortage is a term describing a disparity between the amount demanded for a product or service and the amount supplied in a market. ... See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ... Traffic jams are common in heavily populated areas. ... Soviet redirects here. ...

In Russia communism's failure was epitomized by constant shortages in stores. Empty shelves in supermarkets and department stores and customers in line, wasting hours each week, became the face of the system's failure, as well as a source of huge personal frustration, even rage. Communism failed because prices were not flexible to match supply and demand; because stores were bureaucracies, not businesses; and because revenues went into a central treasury and did not fuel increased capacity and improved service. We in supposedly capitalistic America suffer communism--an unpriced service provided by an unresponsive monopolistic bureaucracy--on most of our highways. Our manifestation of shortage, our equivalent of Russian lines at stores, is daily highway backups. There is no price on rush-hour travel to clear the market. There is no revenue stream directly from road users to road managers to provide incentives either to manage existing capacity to maximum consumer advantage or to adjust capacity to demand.

Ronald F. Kirby, transportation director for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, opined that private companies have more of an incentive to invest in infrastructure early, before a public outcry prompts construction. He noted, "Too often in the public sector, the easiest thing to do is let things sit unresolved. The private sector is motivated by self-interest to resolve things quickly"[1].

Voters prefer tolls to taxes

Voters frequently support tolls over taxes[2]:

• Washington, DC (60% / 30%): A randomized telephone survey conducted by TNS of Horsham, Pennsylvania of 1,003 adults for the Washington Post conducted in the last days of January, 2005 had Washingtonians saying tolls are a "better way to pay for highway expansion or new highways" locally than taxes by a 60/30 split. 9% said neither and 1% no opinion[3].
• Minnesota (69% / 23%): An opinion survey for the STAR TRIBUNE between January 15-20, 2004, showed 69% of people there favored tolled express lanes against 23% who wanted the gas tax raised to pay for extra free highway capacity.

Private highways facilitate internalisation of external costs Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... Horsham is a census-designated place located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. ... ... Official language(s) None Capital Largest city Saint Paul Minneapolis Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 12th 87,014 sq mi  225,365 km² 250 miles  400 km 400 miles  645 km 8. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

A private company can more easily be held accountable for negative effects of the highway than that if it is publicly owned. For example, residents living next to urban highways will benefit from noise reduction walls. However, campaining for the city council to erect the walls is often ineffective and the process can take years, since the council needs to divert funding from other more pressing projects. A private highway will try to avoid court action and feel more obliged to to cater for residents. The cost of erecting the walls will be passed on directly to the drivers (who are causing the noise), rather than the general public.

Arguments against private highways

Highway owners will overcharge users

A common argument against privatization of public highways is that the companies will charge exorbitant tolls. According to the Growth Management Institute, Mexican highway privatization was a costly failure[4]:

Over the last decade, the government licensed companies and banks to construct and manage 43 highways and 9 toll bridges. On several of these facilities, the tolls are the highest in the world, the prime example being a 13 mile (21 km) stretch outside Mexico City that costs $6 to use, twice the daily minimum wage in Mexico.

The total investment of $12 billion is at risk, causing the government to propose a $7.5 billion bailout to renationalize 23 highways and 2 bridges, most of which carry little traffic and require expensive maintenance. Many of the facilities, it seems, were built in areas needing little additional capacity and priced at a level that dissuaded potential users. Some road-building companies, however, recouped part of their investments through lucrative fees paid during construction, and at least one road was built mainly to benefit a developer's ocean-front property. According to the Times, one prominent political scientist called it "a dumb idea that didn't work."

Private industry cannot plan road locations as well as governments

Another argument against privatized roads is the companies' construction plans will not be in the public interest. For instance, in May 1996, the Growth Management Institute criticized the Greenway builders for building a road to nowhere[5]: 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

Despite optimistic predictions by all involved, the road failed to attract anything close to the 33,000 vehicles a day required for the company to make loan payments, let alone the 68,000 vehicles a day needed to turn a profit. In early 1996, the road was averaging 10,500 vehicles daily.

Highways are natural monopolies

In many parts of the world land use patterns mean that building two or more highways in parallel isn't practicable. When there is only one highway connecting A to B, the main advantage of privatization, competition, disappears. In absence of regulation a private highway operator is likely to charge an exorbitant monopoly price, resulting in huge profit margins and little benefits for drivers. However, this problem could be solved by auctioning off highways to the highest bidder and returning the income to the citizens, for example in form of a tax rebait. Even if a highway is run as a monopoly, alternative modes of transport such as trains and airplanes would still compete.

Private highways around the world

Canada

407 ETR

Main article: 407 ETR Highway 407, officially called the 407 Express Toll Route (ETR), is a pay-per-use freeway located in south-central Ontario, Canadas Greater Toronto Area. ...

The 108km Highway 407 ETR through the Greater Toronto Area is a privately-owned freeway with the unique characteristic of all tolls being handled through electronic toll collection. Users who do not have a toll tag (called a transponder) in their vehicle are tracked by automatic number plate recognition, with the toll bill being mailed to the address of the plate on file. Highway 407, officially called the 407 Express Toll Route (ETR), is a pay-per-use freeway located in south-central Ontario, Canadas Greater Toronto Area. ... The Greater Toronto Area (called the GTA by local residents) is the largest metropolitan area in Canada. ... Many ETC systems use transponders like this one to electronically debit the accounts of registered cars without their stopping Transponder used in some Chilean freeways Electronic toll collection (ETC), an adaptation of military identification friend or foe technology, aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads. ... The system must be able to deal with different styles of licence plates Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) is a mass surveillance method that uses optical character recognition on images to read the licence plates on vehicles. ...

Italy

3,120 kilometers of Italy's highways (comprising 56% of the country's toll roads) are controlled by Autostrade Concessioni e Costruzioni Autostrade. According to Forbes, "Autostrade was an early Electronic Age entry, computerizing to its highway system in 1988"[6]. Disambiguation: For the Boston Brahmin family of John Forbes Kerry, see Forbes family. ...

United Kingdom

The M6 Toll was the first private toll motorway in the United Kingdom[7]. The project was described by urbantransport-technology.com as a "27 mile [43 km] dual three lane (plus hard shoulder), £485.5 million motorway" with six toll stations[8]. A similar scheme to bypass Newport in the M4 is under consideration Roadside sign showing (out of date) tariffs for the M6 Toll. ...

India

Although the national freeway system is largely government owned, India's expressways are generally built and operated by private companies such as GVK Group.

United States

18th- and 19th-Century turnpikes

The Lancaster Turnpike, begun in 1792 between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Lancaster, Pennsylvania was the first major American turnpike. According to Gerald Gunderson's Privatization and the 19th-Century Turnpike, "In the first three decades of the 19th century Americans built more than 10,000 miles [16,000 km] of turnpikes, mostly in New England and the Middle Atlantic states. Relative to the economy at that time, this effort exceeded the post-World War II interstate highway system that present-day Americans assume had to be primarily planned and financed by the federal government"[9]. Since electronics did not exist in that era, all tolls had to be collected by human cashiers at toll booths, creating high fixed costs that could only be covered by a large volume of traffic. As railroads and steamboats began to compete with the turnpikes, the companies started to shut down their less profitable routes or turn them over to governments. 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Nickname: City of Brotherly Love, Philly, the Quaker City Map Political Statistics Founded October 27, 1682 Incorporated October 25, 1701 County Philadelphia County Mayor John F. Street (D) Geographic Statistics Area  - Total  - Land  - Water 369 km² (143 mi²) 350 km² (135 mi²) 20... Nickname: The Red Rose City Location Location in Pennsylvania Government Country  State   County United States  Pennsylvania   Lancaster Founded Incorporated 1718 March 10, 1818 Mayor Rick Gray Geographical characteristics Area    - City 19. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... A toll road, turnpike or tollpike is a road on which a toll authority collects a fee for use. ... The states of New England are Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... Interstate Highways in the lower 48 states. ...

Reedy Creek Improvement District

Main article: Reedy Creek Improvement District The Reedy Creek Improvement District in Florida is the immediate governing jurisdiction for the land on the Walt Disney World Resort. ...

The Reedy Creek Improvement District, established in 1967, operates six-lane freeways in the Walt Disney World area near Orlando, Florida. Technically, the RCID is a public corporation administered by a five-member Board of Supervisors elected by area landowners[10]. However, through a carefully-constructed legal framework, Disney operates the roads and utilities as wholly-owned subsidiaries, rather than as a public-private partnership. The Reedy Creek Improvement District in Florida is the immediate governing jurisdiction for the land on the Walt Disney World Resort. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Cinderella Castle, at the center of the Magic Kingdom, is Walt Disney World Resorts most recognizable icon Introduction Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company, the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, USA is home to four theme parks, two water parks, several resort hotels and golf courses... Nickname The city Beautiful Location Location in Orange County and the state of Florida. ... Literally a public company is a company owned by the public. ...

Specifically, Disney is the primary landowner and controls the remaining land through contractual arrangements. In this way, Disney is able to hand-pick the landowning electorate. An Associated Press article notes, "Board members are non-Disney business people from central Florida and must own at least an acre [4,000 m²] in the district" [11]. A Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability report explains the contractual arrangement as follows: "Historically, each board member has been deeded approximately five acres [20,000 m²] of land by an affiliate of the Walt Disney World Co. . . . According to RCID officials, a Walt Disney World Co. affiliate has the exclusive option to purchase land back from board members at any time"[12]. Landowners also have a right to recall Board members before the completion of their four-year terms. A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office. ...

Financial arrangements are also circular. According to the RCID Finance Department, Walt Disney Co. is RCID's largest taxpayer, paying about 86% of the District's taxes in 2004. The remaining taxpayers are Board members and lessees of property owned by Disney affiliates (e.g. House of Blues, Travelodge, and Hilton) paying ad valorem taxes. An American Prospect article notes, "Disney pays taxes to Reedy Creek, which gives the money straight back to Disney, and the circle is closed"[13]. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The House of Blues is a chain of restaurants founded in 1992 by Dan Aykroyd and his friend (and Hard Rock Cafe founder) Isaac Tigrett. ... Travelodge is a brand of economy hotels in North America franchised by Cendant, the worlds largest hotel chain. ... The word Hilton can refer to a number of different people, places, and things. ... An Ad valorem tax is a tax based on the assessed value of real estate or personal property. ... The American Prospect is a monthly magazine which focuses on US politics and public policy. ...

Dalton Highway

Main article: Dalton Highway The highway and pipeline run generally parallel to each other; this segment is between the Arctic Circle and Coldfoot. ...

The Dalton Highway in Alaska was built in 1974 to allow construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. It runs 400 miles from near Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean. Rather than relieving congestion, the highway was built to allow access to the Prudhoe Bay oilfields, which before were inaccessible. Permits were required to drive it until 1995, but it is currently owned by the State of Alaska and open to the public.[14] The highway and pipeline run generally parallel to each other; this segment is between the Arctic Circle and Coldfoot. ... Official language(s) English Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Area  Ranked 1st  - Total 663,267 sq. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... Map of the pipeline The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), usually called the Alyeska Pipeline in Alaska or the Alaska Pipeline elsewhere, is a major U.S. oil pipeline connecting oil fields in northern Alaska to a sea port where the oil can be shipped to the Lower 48 states... Fairbanks is a city located in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. ... Prudhoe Bay is a census-designated place located in North Slope Borough, Alaska. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Dulles Greenway

The Dulles Greenway.

Main article: Dulles Greenway Image File history File links Dulles Greenway, from http://www. ... Virginia Route 267 is composed of two sections, the Dulles Toll Road and the Dulles Greenway. ...

The Dulles Greenway, Virginia's first private toll road since 1816, is a 14 mile (23 km) highway connecting Washington Dulles International Airport with Leesburg, Virginia. In 1988, the Virginia General Assembly authorized private development of toll roads. To take advantage of this opportunity, the Bryant/Crane family of Middleburg, Virginia, AIE, L.L.C., and Kellogg, Brown and Root of Houston, Texas joined together to form Toll Road Investors Partnership II (TRIP II). Brown & Root constructed the road with private funds, opening it for traffic on September 29, 1995. Autostrade International, a company with over 30 years of experience in the development, construction, maintenance, and operation of Italian toll road networks, formed an American subsidiary to take over operation of the Greenway[15]. Virginia Route 267 is composed of two sections, the Dulles Toll Road and the Dulles Greenway. ... 1816 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Washington Dulles International Airport (IATA: IAD, ICAO: KIAD) serves the greater Washington, D.C./metropolitan area. ... Leesburg is a town located in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States of America. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Virginia General Assembly is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state. ... Middleburg is a town located in Loudoun County, Virginia. ... KBR (formerly Kellogg, Brown and Root) is an American engineering and construction company, a private military contractor and a subsidiary of Halliburton. ... – ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Autostrade International is a company that owns the Italian autostrade network and whose subsidiary, Autostrade of Virginia, is a member of the consortium that operates the Dulles Greenway. ...

The Greenway has several methods of expediting traffic flow. Six traffic lanes, a uniform 65 mph (105 km/h) speed limit, and a complete absence of traffic lights keep traffic moving at a steady pace. In addition, electronic toll collection, using the Virginia Department of Transportation's Smart Tag system, enables Smart Tag lanes to "process five times as many vehicles per hour as conventional cash payment lanes"[16]. The Virginia Department of Transportation, or VDOT, is the government agency responsible for building, maintaining and operating Virginias roads, bridges and tunnels. ... Smart TAG is the Malaysian electronic payment system after Touch n Go. ...

The Dulles Greenway charges a fixed amount for use of the road, regardless of whether the driver exits before driving the complete length of the Greenway. The behavior of the Greenway's operators appears to confirm theories about private road operation; they seem to increase tolls and invest in infrastructure as needed to maximize profits. In 2004, the operators won approval from the State Corporation Commission to increase tolls from $2.00 to $3.00 per car[17]. In 2005, Tom Sines of TRIP II announced plans for widening the highway, adding two new exits, expanding the main toll plaza, building a ramp to the airport, and reconfiguring an exit as a cloverleaf interchange[18]. Virginia Route 267 is composed of two sections, the Dulles Toll Road and the Dulles Greenway. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The State Corporation Commission, or SCC, is a Virginia regulatory agency whose authority encompasses utilities, insurance, state-chartered financial institutions, securities, retail franchising, and railroads. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which right turns (in countries that drive on the left) are handled by loop ramps. ...

Washington State highway privatization

As of 1993, the Washington State Department of Transportation had approved phased privatization of the entire 135 miles (217 km) of freeways in the greater Seattle metropolitan area[19]. 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... The Washington State Department of Transportation, or WSDOT, led by a Secretary and overseen by the Governor, is a Washington governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of the states transportation infrastructure. ... High-capacity freeway interchange in Los Angeles, California. ... City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area   - Total   - Land   - Water   - % water 369. ...

Toll roads to serve development

In addition to many private toll roads built to serve ordinary travel needs, some have been built to serve new housing developments. Those include the following: Subdivision is the act of dividing up land into smaller pieces that are easier to sell, usually via a plat. ...

• Adams Avenue Turnpike, Ogden, Utah
• Alabama River Parkway, Montgomery, Alabama
• Burnside Expressway, Halifax, Nova Scotia (proposed in Canada)
• Emerald Mountain Expressway, Montgomery, Alabama
• Foley Beach Expressway, Orange Beach, Alabama
• Poinciana Parkway, central Florida (proposed)
• Western Bypass, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Ogden sign over Washington Boulevard at the Ogden River; toward downtown John Moses Browning (January 21, 1855 – November 26, 1926), born in Ogden, Utah, was an American firearms designer who developed many varieties of weapons which were used in the U.S. military for decades in the 20th century. ... Montgomery skyline from the banks of the Alabama River Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama. ... Please read first: This article is about the Nova Scotia community. ... Montgomery skyline from the banks of the Alabama River Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama. ... Orange Beach is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States. ... Central Florida is the central region of the United States state of Florida, on the East Coast. ... } Tuscaloosa is a city in west central Alabama in the southern United States. ...

Supporters

Many politicians, economists, and others have spoken out in support of private highways, including:

• Russ Potts, four-term Virginia State Senator and 2005 gubernatorial candidate, who said that "The only way in the world that you can address the transportation nightmare that we have in Virginia is with new monies, new revenues and a total public-private partnership as well as putting everything on the table - tolls, gas tax, private ownership of roads, everything to address it"[20].

H. Russell Potts H. Russell Russ Potts Jr. ... The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A high-speed toll booth on SR 417 near Orlando, Florida A toll gate on the Sayama bypass (Saitama prefectural road 397) in Japan A toll gate on the Dom Pedro I Highway near the city of Itatiba, Brazil A New Jersey Turnpike Toll Gate for Exit 8A in Monroe... A gasoline tax (also known as a gas tax, petrol tax, fuel tax or fuel duty) is a sales tax imposed on the sale of gasoline. ...

See also

• Road pricing
• Toll road
• Shunpiking

Road pricing is a generic term for charging for the use of roads using direct methods, charging the users of a specific section of the road network for its use. ... A high-speed toll booth on SR 417 near Orlando, Florida A toll gate on the Sayama bypass (Saitama prefectural road 397) in Japan A toll gate on the Dom Pedro I Highway near the city of Itatiba, Brazil A New Jersey Turnpike Toll Gate for Exit 8A in Monroe... The term shunpiking comes from the word shun, meaning to avoid, and pike, a term referring to turnpikes, which were roads which required payment of a toll to travel on them. ...

External links

• Privatized Highways: A Toll Too Far?, The Growth Management Institute, May, 1996.

References

• About RCID, Reedy Creek Improvement District.
• Birmingham Northern Relief Road (BNRR), United Kingdom, urbantransport-technology.com.
• Central Florida's Reedy Creek Improvement District Has Wide-Ranging Authority, Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, Report No. 04-81, Dec. 2004.
• Dulles Greenway Expanding, ABCNews, Mar. 4, 2005.
• Dulles Greenway home page.
• Fehr, Stephen C.: Highway Links Loudoun to Region's Growing Pains, The Washington Post, Sep. 24, 1995.
• Graham, Chris: Potts, Kilgore tear into Kaine roads plan, Augusta Free Press, June 29, 2005.
• Gunderson, Gerald: Privatization and the 19th-Century Turnpike, Cato Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1, Spring/Summer 1989.
• Heller, Richard: The Fast Lane, Forbes, April 15, 2002.
• Judge Orders Discovery of Secret BNRR Deal, Alliance Against the Birmingham Northern Relief Road.
• Porter, Douglas R.: Newsletter of The Growth Management Institute, Vol. 4 No. 1, (Fall) 1997.
• Samuel, Peter: Highway Aggravation: The Case For Privatizing The Highways, Cato Policy Analysis No. 231, June 27, 1995.
• Samuel, Peter: Landslide victory! Tolls 60% Taxes 30% in Washington DC metro area poll, Toll Roads News, Feb. 16, 2005.
• Samuel, Peter: Virginia bureaucrats finally OK toll hike for Dulles Greenway Virginia, Toll Roads News, July 8, 2004.
• Schneider, Mike: Disney Rescue Workers in Labor Dispute, The Associated Press, Jan. 18, 2004.
• Wolf, Joshua: Hidden Kingdom: Disney's Political Blueprint, The American Prospect, Inc., Volume 6, Issue 21, Mar. 21, 1995.