Roads for the Future.

• Author: Leef, George
• Position: Rethinking America's Highways: A 21st-Century Vision for Better Infrastructure - Book review

Rethinking America's Highways: A 21st-Century Vision for Better Infrastructure

By Robert W. Poole Jr.

363 pp.; University of Chicago Press, 2018

Bob Poole is well-known for two things. First, he was one of the founders of Reason magazine in 1970, giving the nation a consistently libertarian investigative magazine. Second, he has devoted most of his career to the analysis of America's transportation problems, especially our highways. This book brings together decades of his research with the objective of showing how we could enjoy a far more efficient highway system if we would shift away from the heavily politicized approach to roadway funding that has predominated for more than a century, in favor of a utility model. In short, Poole argues that we should build and maintain our roads the same way we build and maintain our water and electric utilities: customers pay companies for their use.

Stuck in the past/ We are rapidly approaching a turning point regarding highway policy, Poole argues. The reason is that our old funding model for highways is breaking down just as many of our ill-maintained roads and bridges are.

Ever since the Great Depression, we have relied primarily on the federal gas tax to provide the money needed for roadways. At that time there was no convenient way to meter the amount of driving Americans did, so the best way to fund road construction was to tax gasoline and diesel purchases. Over the years, Congress often raised the amount of that tax, but it has not done so since 1993. The taxes on gasoline and diesel have been 18.41 cents and 24.41, respectively, per gallon for a quarter-century. Moreover, fuel economy has improved steadily and a small but growing percentage of vehicles use relatively little or none of those fuels. As a result, the federal gas tax is less and less able to pay for our current highway system, much less any major upgrades.

And our highway system certainly could use some upgrading. Poole cites research showing that Americans waste at least $160 billion per year because of highway congestion. Rational investments could greatly reduce that cost while modernizing many bridges that, though not "crumbling" (contrary to the claims of politicians eager for public money for their districts), are on their way to obsolescence. (Among the virtues of Poole's writing is that he takes down exaggerated claims on both sides. He likes cool, sober analysis.)

Mired in politics / The main reason why we are behind...