Live from the Nuke Free Zone

Ever heard that occasional desperation claim made by a speeder? “I do own this road — I pay taxes for it!” Well, he’ll have even less footing soon. More and more roads in America aren’t owned by American governments.

This isn’t an exercise that attracts much attention, because no one is proximately harmed by it, but it’s part of the larger privatization and outsourcing push that’s propelled by mostly-Republican desires to shrink government, and a casual sort of regard for any notions of a common social inheritance. When you aren’t worried about making a certain piece of infrastructure equally accessible to all, it’s perfectly acceptable to sell off a public toll road to the highest bidder and let them charge various levels of fees for access.

Governing magazine, whose raison d’etre is local and state government, is in position to keep an eye on the issue: here and here are a couple of articles on the business. (The meat of the articles are referenced to Wall Street Journal articles to describe their original situations, I’m afraid, but Governing includes all core details.) It’s something we should keep an eye on as well; this is an issue that crops up piece by tiny piece in local arenas, where interested activists who care about the future of their community can have a real say.