What the Traffic Will Bear

摘要

Driving on the nation's highways has nearly doubled over the past two decades, while road capacity has increased only 5%. No wonder we're stuck in traffic. Yet we can cut down on congestion by building more roads and imposing tolls. Sure, you're probably having a road-rage moment at the prospect of forking out billions in taxes and tolls. But this can work without broad taxes if we shift to a market-based toll system. Two innovations point the way. The first is technology that permits fully automated toll collection at highway speeds. This is usually done via dashboard-mounted electronic toll tags read by an overhead gantry at 65 miles per hour. Your toll charge is deducted from a prepaid account. If you don't want an account, video equipment can read your license plate and send you a monthly bill.