America's Crumbling Highways

Famed economist Milton Friedman called America’s highway system a “socialist enterprise” and he was right.  America’s roads are in desperate need of repair and the federal government is clearly incapable of maintaining them efficiently.  Drivers pay tens of billions of dollars in gasoline taxes every year and our infrastructure problems only seem to get worse.

Instead of taxpayers forking over trillions of dollars in new legislation to address the problem, why don’t we trust in private sector solutions, both to ease congestion on our roads and to finance their ongoing maintenance through robust competition?  Why not allow private companies to run and care for our roads in the model of utilities like power, water, and gas companies?  There are some perils with this approach, as we’ll see, but the concept is worthy of serious consideration.

No one understands the fruitlessness of the status quo or thinks about practical solutions to these problems more than Bob Poole, founder and director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation.  He has advised nearly every president on transportation issues over the past 35 years and is also the author of “Rethinking America’s Highways: A 21st Century Vision for Better Infrastructure.” 

It's an issue that impacts all of us every day.  Join us as explore solutions to end the political and literal gridlock.