The Patriot Post® · Bankrupting Highway Trust Fund

John Stossel: “[T]here’s no doubt some roads and bridges need work. But too little transportation money spent by government goes to building and repairing roads. As Cato Institute transportation analyst Randal O'Toole points out, the construction of the nation’s federal highways was largely complete in 1982, but instead of reducing the gas tax that helped pay for them, Congress raised the tax and spent much of the money on things like bicycle trails and ‘mass’ transit. ‘Building an interstate highway system,’ writes O'Toole, ‘has been replaced by a complex and often contradictory set of missions: maintaining infrastructure, enhancing mobility, reducing air pollution, discouraging driving, supporting transit, building expensive rail lines, promoting economic development, stimulating the economy, stopping climate change and ending urban sprawl, among others.’ Then, when roads deteriorate, the federal government laments that it doesn’t have enough money. … How about going the opposite route? Let people live where they choose, let private entities build roads and mass transit (many roads and even most of New York City’s subways were privately built), and let user fees from commuters pay for roads and transit. … With government planners, it’s always ‘My way or the highway.’”