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Nearly 60 Years Later: Did the Federal Highway Act Help or Hurt?
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bitcruncher Offline
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Post: #41
RE: Nearly 60 Years Later: Did the Federal Highway Act Help or Hurt?
(07-31-2014 07:39 AM)vandiver49 Wrote:  
(07-29-2014 04:01 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Keep in mind that what I'm proposing to privatize is the Interstate system, because it has significant revenue potential from user fees. Other roads would remain tax funded. With the Interstates pulled out, current funding levels from existing sources should be more than enough to accomplish significant upgrading of those as well. Again, a lot of European governments do it this way, and if those socialists can make it work then surely we can.
From everything I've read privatization seems like a mixed bag with very little delta from the transfer from the gov't in terms of performance. The Indiana Toll Road (ITR) for example, netted the state a 3.6 billion windfall, which they have burned through in 10 years. The ITR lease was for 75 years. Within the 10 year time frame the price for cars paying cash, the rate for the 157-mile length of the road has increased in six years, from $4.65 to $9. For a five-axle truck, the increase has been greater – from $14.55 when the lease was approved to $36.20 today.

And freight transport is where theses companies expect to really make their money. But such increases in tolls can induce transporters to consider shipping by rail or inform truck drivers to use alternate routes.
And considering that the vast majority of roads in this nation are in serious need of repair, especially bridges, I would not want to see the result of private companies trying to come up with creative ways to get the funds needed to do the necessary repairs and reconstruction. We would have toll booths every couple of miles, with the resulting traffic jams created by having a bottleneck at regular intervals along every highway in the nation. It would kill the tourist industry in most states.
07-31-2014 11:48 AM
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Owl 69/70/75 Offline
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Post: #42
RE: Nearly 60 Years Later: Did the Federal Highway Act Help or Hurt?
European socialist governments make it work. Anecdotal stories aside, if they can make it work then we can.
07-31-2014 01:14 PM
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jh Offline
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Post: #43
RE: Nearly 60 Years Later: Did the Federal Highway Act Help or Hurt?
If we would stop diverting highway funds to pay for mass transit boondoggles, there would be plenty of money for maintenance.

And our bridges are in better shape than they've been for over 20 years.
http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/crumbling-bridges
07-31-2014 02:05 PM
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bitcruncher Offline
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Post: #44
RE: Nearly 60 Years Later: Did the Federal Highway Act Help or Hurt?
(07-31-2014 01:14 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  European socialist governments make it work. Anecdotal stories aside, if they can make it work then we can.
Socialist means there's no profit motive, unlike American enterprises. That's why it will never work here.
07-31-2014 04:04 PM
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Owl 69/70/75 Offline
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Post: #45
RE: Nearly 60 Years Later: Did the Federal Highway Act Help or Hurt?
(07-31-2014 04:04 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  
(07-31-2014 01:14 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  European socialist governments make it work. Anecdotal stories aside, if they can make it work then we can.
Socialist means there's no profit motive, unlike American enterprises. That's why it will never work here.

Au contraire, it's precisely the existence of a profit motive that makes it work. That's the exact point. European and other socialist governments have privatized many functions because they have come to realize that profit-seeking enterprises perform them cheaper and better.
(This post was last modified: 07-31-2014 06:29 PM by Owl 69/70/75.)
07-31-2014 06:28 PM
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bitcruncher Offline
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Post: #46
RE: Nearly 60 Years Later: Did the Federal Highway Act Help or Hurt?
(07-31-2014 06:28 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  
(07-31-2014 04:04 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  
(07-31-2014 01:14 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  European socialist governments make it work. Anecdotal stories aside, if they can make it work then we can.
Socialist means there's no profit motive, unlike American enterprises. That's why it will never work here.
Au contraire, it's precisely the existence of a profit motive that makes it work. That's the exact point. European and other socialist governments have privatized many functions because they have come to realize that profit-seeking enterprises perform them cheaper and better.
Since the United States is defined as a business, privatization should have little effect. A business by its very definition seeks a profit as the end result of its effort. The bureaucracy does tend to nullify that, but many large corporations are now feeling the effects of bureaucracy themselves. It's a self inflicted handicap, which happens to anything that grows too large.
07-31-2014 08:43 PM
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BleedsHuskieRed Offline
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Post: #47
RE: Nearly 60 Years Later: Did the Federal Highway Act Help or Hurt?
I love the interstate system, great work all around team.

As for privatization, as someone who works in the trucking industry, this would be devastating. Sure our drivers could stake US Highways or state routes, but guess what, that takes longer, and is less fuel efficient. Guess what happens when a truck is on the road longer, you have to pay that driver for being on the road longer. Then what happens when that driver is under one load longer, he can't pick up another one. Capacity is further reduced (we already have a driver shortage).

We don't have the rail system to privatize our interstates. Our interstates are too important to transport our goods quickly, relatively cheaply, and on time(ish) to start charging people to use.
08-27-2014 11:53 AM
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Fo Shizzle Offline
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Post: #48
RE: Nearly 60 Years Later: Did the Federal Highway Act Help or Hurt?
(08-27-2014 11:53 AM)BleedsHuskieRed Wrote:  I love the interstate system, great work all around team.

As for privatization, as someone who works in the trucking industry, this would be devastating. Sure our drivers could stake US Highways or state routes, but guess what, that takes longer, and is less fuel efficient. Guess what happens when a truck is on the road longer, you have to pay that driver for being on the road longer. Then what happens when that driver is under one load longer, he can't pick up another one. Capacity is further reduced (we already have a driver shortage).

We don't have the rail system to privatize our interstates. Our interstates are too important to transport our goods quickly, relatively cheaply, and on time(ish) to start charging people to use.

We already charge people to use the highways. I think the case for privatization deals more with the efficiency and lower costs through competition of the private sector vs. public sector.

I will say it again. Of all the functions of the bureaucracy of government I find least objectionable would be infrastructure. Could a level of privatization be of benefit to the consumer(taxpayer)? Sure. We already contract out to the private sector plenty of governmental functions. I see nothing that would stop us from doing it in this area.
08-29-2014 04:15 PM
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