Highway Problem & Solution

Almost 2 months ago I wrote about all the pork in huge highway spending bill. Today I want to continue the discussion on that topic and explore a great solution made possible by technology.

Why is congestion so bad on today's freeways? That seems like a no brainer, right? Too many cars and not enough road. So defining the problem seems relatively simple. But, I assure you that it is not that easy. The deper questions of "Why are there so many cars on the road at a given time?" and "Why haven't the recent higher gas prices done anything to curb that?" are still out there to be answered.

The deep down reason that there are still so many cars on the road is that driving is too cheap, especially at certain times. Don't believe me? Let's look at just one instance of how this works in our lives. Why is a matinee movie cheaper than an evening? Because there is a much higher demand in the evening, so theaters can charge more. Some people who are cost conscious will go to the matinee, which wouldn't have done so before, smoothing out some of the congestion. If matinees were even cheaper, or evening shows more expensive, there would be an even bigger move of people to matinee movies.

One economist gave this example: "Try this thought exercise: Imagine that we operated our public golf courses like we operate our public roads. We would charge all taxpayers to help build and operate the course, regardless of how often they play golf -- or even if they don't play at all. Then we would charge very little to play and, most important, all golfers could tee off whenever they showed up. Would it be a little too crowded at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday when 127 golfers tried to tee up their drivers? You bet. We'd soon be reading about "golf rage," which would be particularly dangerous given all the swinging clubs."

The way we allow government to run the roads is very similar. It always costs the same, no matter when you drive, and it is relatively cheap. Many will groan when they hear that driving is cheap as they are spending $3 per gallon on gas. Look at Europe and you'll see they spend at least twice as much on gas. Why? Mostly because of taxes which build the infrastructure. We pay about 25% of the price of gas in taxes while they pay 75% in taxes. And yet, our taxes and user fees (auto registration, fees, and taxes) don't even cover the full cost of road construction and maintenence.

Thanks to technology, we can now increase and decrease the price of a highway as the traffic on that highway increases and decreases. I envision a system with some aspects of the I-15 FastTrak in San Diego. To ride on the freeways a person must buy or rent a small, device mounted on the dash of their car. Upon entering the freeway system, the device signals to a scanner that you are entering, and the system picks up your point of entry. Upon leaving the freeway it does the same thing, but marks it as your point of exit. Sounds like a regular old toll-road, doesn't it?

Well, here's where it gets different. The price you will pay to be on the freeway is dependent on the amout of traffic on that part of the freeway. So, a person may pay as low as 1 cent per mile if the traffic is very light. But they may also pay as much as 10 cents a mile if their section of freeway is packed with traffic. There would be sensors to determine traffic density, and electronic signs on all entrances and all along the freeway to tell you what the current rate in that area is. In addition, your vehicle could be weighed while getting on the system and be given a weight modifier. An average car would have a modifier of 1, which is normal. A heavy car or large car might have a modifier of 1.15, reflecting its increased wear and tear on a road, and a small car might have a modifier of .85, reflecting its less-than-average wear and tear on a road surface.

Paying higher prices to drive when it is congested will encourage people to drive at different times, take alternate routes, consolidate trips, carpool, take mass transit, and live in places where they have to drive less. It is much better than our current system of paying for everyone to cause congestion.