Private Roads

[reteo]

Well, I've heard the roads question a number of times, and I got to thinking... How do we replace roads in a free market society?

Then I got to thinking about the Internet and radio, and came up with a plausible solution.

We know that:
1: Just because people own property does not mean they want to permanently stay on said property.  (There are hermits, of course, but they are an exception)
2: Many people do not want to make their own paths if they can have someone else do it for the right price.
3: Many people do not want to police and maintain the roads on their own.

As such, we can establish the demand, in the absence of government, for the following service:  Road providers.

Road providers are competing companies that will pave, patrol, and maintain roads on property owned by landowners.

They can be paid by:
The owner of the property.

• Out of Pocket
• Through advertising contracts

Direct advertisers and/or sponsors.

• This time, the advertiser deals directly with the road provider

The people who traverse the road in question.

• Tollbooths
• Membership systems

The benefits of this system are as follows:
1: Being in a competitive market, the road providers will find the most efficient ways to build, police, and maintain the roads.
2: The landowner retains control of his property, including the road (the landowner is the overriding voice).  If he chooses to go to another provider to maintain his road, then he has that option.  In other words, no eminent domain!
3: The landowner and/or the road provider can find ways to make the road profitable for both.  As such, it can benefit both the landowner and the road provider to have roads built, and to have more people go through.
4: If a provider is good, they can gain contracts over a large area, thus allowing a consistency that goes against the argument of "different rules for different streets."

[Kat Kanning]

I live on a private road.  It seems to work well enough.

[aries]

Well, we wouldn't need to increase the volume of roads being built since we ALREADY have tons of roads.

Most access roads are private before incorporated into the town.

As for main roads, those would be serviced by either tolls or whatever. I think that works best.

Tolls for main roads
Nothing/owners for back and dirt roads
Community for small private access roads + community roads

[tracysaboe]

STREET SMART
Competition, Entrepreneurship, and the Future of Roads
http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=64

Tracy

[maineiac]

How do we replace roads in a free market society?

Then I got to thinking about the Internet and radio, and came up with a plausible solution.

Rip them all up and build new ones?

[Incrementalist]

Tolls for main roads
Nothing/owners for back and dirt roads
Community for small private access roads + community roads

Who is collecting the toll money for the main road?

And while we're addressing the issue, what qualifies as a "main road"?

[aries]

Tolls for main roads
Nothing/owners for back and dirt roads
Community for small private access roads + community roads

Who is collecting the toll money for the main road?

And while we're addressing the issue, what qualifies as a "main road"?

The owner of it

And a main road is one used by a lot of people to get between prime destinations. IE one town center to another, or even interstate or very far in-state.

[Dreepa]

And in my town, the town will plow some of the 'private' roads.

[burnthebeautiful]

In Kyogle, the town in the Australian outback that I lived in when I was very young, there's a 7-mile long private road owned and maintained by the Lions Club chairity.

I think private roads could be a great business for entrepreneurs. There are all sorts of ways you could make money. On red lights, you could have quick ads or logos being shown on a flat-screen monitor beside the red light, ad signs along the side of the road, and of course the company logo, "Matton Roads Company" or something, in various places.

[tracysaboe]

Somebody else already suggested this, but selling right of ways to water and electric and cable companies.

Tracy

[David]

Roads are extremely important, used to transport both goods and people.
Where there is a demand, there will be a supply.
I'm not a prophet, so I don't know how it will work itself out.  But those who do, will profit handsomely.  It doesn't happen now because of competition from the gov't.  Like libraries, how do you charge a price when your competition charges nothing.

I personally think it will in part work out the way parking lots are done.  To get customers to your doors, you not only have to build a place to park, but also a place to drive to your parking lot.  Malls and shopping centers will have an incentive to link up to existing roads in an effort to draw customers.  True it is private property, but it is not practical to police to the extent of keeping non customers off the streets.  Many places will secure their properties with security, but mostly against thieves and vandals. 
This already happens in apt., condo, and trailor park complexes. 
The only difference is now streets are so available that many communities make their areas no outlets, but in a society that is completely private there will be attempts to Increase assesability rather than decrease.

[Incrementalist]

Tolls for main roads
Nothing/owners for back and dirt roads
Community for small private access roads + community roads

Who is collecting the toll money for the main road?

And while we're addressing the issue, what qualifies as a "main road"?

The owner of it

Ahh, that makes it clearer.  At first I thought you were talking about government toll collection.  In light of this, wouldn't your real assertion be "owners choice", rather than assuming toll collection?

And a main road is one used by a lot of people to get between prime destinations. IE one town center to another, or even interstate or very far in-state.

You must admit, however, that your rhetoric leaves quite a few "grey" area roads.  This is not a world of town centers and rural land, this is a world of suburban sprawl, even a state as resistant to sprawl as NH.  Quite a few community roads serve as thoroughfares.  Which are "community" (read: government) owned and which are private?  Who decides?

[reteo]

How do we replace roads in a free market society?

Then I got to thinking about the Internet and radio, and came up with a plausible solution.

Rip them all up and build new ones?

*facepalms*

I'm not a prophet, so I don't know how it will work itself out.  But those who do, will profit handsomely.

Yuk yuk yuk...

All joking aside...

Well, we wouldn't need to increase the volume of roads being built since we ALREADY have tons of roads.

You are correct.  However, by "Replacement," I mean in terms of road construction and ownership.  The existing ones could be bought up by companies and/or private individuals, after which they still need a support structure to care for the roads, to police them, and to pay for the prior two services.

[firecracker joe]

i am lucky enough to live in nh and also live on a class 6 non maintained road which i had to sign an agrrement with the town stating that they are not responsible for me as far as fire or police which is great in most cases but try getting 2-3 foot of snow without a plow truck.not very easy.Or doing road work with no truck or equipment .Yes living off the grid is nice and quiet. to maintain a half mile of road is not cheap should i put a toll booth on it to help with the cost of replacing culverts and smoothing road twice a year this is something i have struggled with for 8 years now and it is not easy doing alone.In the last 8 years i have had to buy a backhoe and dump truck just for road work not many people i know can afford that .Just one more way i have been blessed, but try hiring  a surveyor,wetland scientist,and everything else that comes with owning your own road, which i dont even own!

[Recumbent ReCycler]

I don't like tolls, although the idea of having advertisements at red lights sounds good to me.  You could have an ad that somehow lets you know that the light is changing so that people don't zone out as much looking at ads.  I would like to see the toll booths on the Spaulding Turnpike replaced with advertising billboards.  Most of the traffic issues we have on the pike are because of the backups at the tollbooths.  During the winter, I have seen a good number of cars off the road because the drivers had to brake for the toll booths and they weren't paying adequate attention to the road ahead of them.  Removing toll booths would most likely result in less wasted fuel and fewer accidents.