> Just don't forget that gasoline taxes pay for a big piece of roads &
> highways - not the whole thing, but a big piece.
I haven't. Dan may have better figures than I do, but it is my
understanding that gas taxes cover about two-thirds of the direct
operating costs of the freeways, and little or nothing of the up-front
construction, land grabs, et cetera. The gas taxes pay some percentage
of the highway system, but I don't know what that percentage is. Since
the cumulative costs of the highway system is probably much higher than
the freeway system (there are a lot more of them), I suspect that it is
a small percentage. Gas taxes pay little or nothing toward the local
road system, which, obviously, is by far the most expensive bit.
And, before you tell me that busses need roads, this is true, but bus
service requires exactly two lanes. All additional lanes should be
billed to drivers. Likwise, trains need two tracks (or sometimes one),
each of which, in isolation, is far less expensive than even the most
rudimentary road for automobiles. A lot of the reason that BART is so
expensive is that it must be elevated at great cost -- for the sole
benefit of drivers.
Make drivers pay for the roads they use, and I will gladly pay for those
that I use, and no more.
Think of it, Andrew. There is nothing in the world more Socialist than
America's freeway system. It is designed and planned and organized by
the government, and ultimately for government (read, military)
purposes. It may be built by private contractors, but only under
contract to the government. There is no competition; private roads are,
with a few exceptions, not allowed. Most competing transportation is
starved or marginalized into non-existance.
In the best Stalinist tradition, these things are built with no concern
for local wishes. Take a drive along the old highway north of
Sacramento, which was replaced by I-5, and check out all of the
beautiful, old, and thoroughly dead towns, economically destroyed when
they were "bypassed" by the freeway. Then check out the ugly strip
development along I-5 that replaced them. Or, just look at Oakland, or
almost any other medium-sized American inner city. Nobody voted for
these changes, except, ironically, in San Francisco. Mostly, it was
done by government fiat. Even San Francisco only just escaped this
fate, and advocates for extending the Central Freeway may yet succeed in
destroying this city.
-- Donald
_________________________
Donald F. Robertson
San Francisco
donaldrf@hooked.net
76217.2066@CompuServe.com
Donald's Space Exploration page:
http://www.hooked.net/~donaldrf/index.html
The known is finite, the unknown is infinite; intellectually
we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of
inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to
reclaim a little more land. -- Thomas Huxley.