I recently read or heard an economist recommend that more of America’s expressways be made toll roads as a way to more fairly distribute the cost of building and maintaining highways. Instead of making everyone pay for roads, have those who actually use the roads bear more of the financial burden of upkeep.
Makes sense, especially if you have lots of money to add toll booths and barriers to enforce the tolls. Here in Michigan, we don’t have a lot of cash lying around.
Now comes a new twist: add just one toll lane.
The city of Austin, Tex., where traffic is becoming more and more snarled, they are doing just that. I read about it (where else?) on the Freakonomics blog.
