America’s Toll Roads Heritage: The Achievements of Private Initiative in the 19th Century

Daniel Klein and John Majewski ()
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John Majewski: Department of History, Postal: Department of History, University of California, Santa Barbara, 93106, USA

No 30, Ratio Working Papers from The Ratio Institute

Abstract: Private toll roads shaped and accommodated trade and migration routes, leaving social and political imprints on the communities that debated and supported them. Private road building came and went in waves throughout the 19th century and across the country. All told, between 2,500 and 3,200 companies successfully financed, built, and operated their toll road. Although most of these roads operated for only a fraction of the 100+ period, the combined mileage of private toll roads that operated at any point in time would be in range of 30,000 to 52,000 miles. The paper explores the character, methods, and purposes of the private toll roads, and draws lessons for the privatization of highways today.

Keywords: toll roads; turnpikes; plank roads; privatization; free riding; regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L92 N71 N91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2003-12-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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