Pay to Go, Again

There is a principle of economics that is enshrined in accounting and seems to support the idea of toll roads. It is that when true costs are compared to the income generated by incurring those costs, the best decisions about allocation of resources are made.

There are two other principles that seem to support roads being funded on the public credit. The first is the idea of "common carrier". This idea recognizes the barrier to market entry imposed by the huge investment required to build infrastructure like roads and telephone lines. Although there may be private investment for such projects, the logical consequences are the same for public or private facilities: the investor is entitled to a fair rate of return on his investment; and use of the restricted resource must be allocated fairly.

The second principle in favor of public roads is that of the public footpath. It is widely recognized that there can never be a case where you can't get there from here. If the trasnportation infrastructure blocks a participant in the economy from going to a market or going to work, then that block must be removed.

What this means for Texas commuter roads, I think, is that there has to remain a reasonably efficient, generally funded, infracture for people who cannot participate economically on any other terms.