Musings of the Great Eric

Engineering Gems of the U.S. Highway System

The U.S. interstate highway system is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Fifty years ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill to pay for the wide ribbons of highways that connect America’s cities and towns.

The system of highways profoundly changed American society: where we live, how we live and how much we depend on our cars.

It occurs to me that the interestate highway system, while perhaps being the engineering marvel the NPR piece highlights, was a government project. Damn socialists.

I mean - can’t you imagine how much *better* it would be if it were done and controlled by private industry instead? The left lane would be reserved only for people who drive GM SUV’s because of a deal cut between GM and the highway. The tolls would factors of ten more than they are now, to cover both the marketting expensese of getting you to drive on it. Some of the most convenient thoroughfares would be paved with gold and reserved only for the rich. And every time a blizzard comes through, the companies could come *crying* to the federal government about how they couldn’t have seen it coming and ask for a bail out from the taxpayers to cover the snow plow expense.

Yep. Government is always a bureaucratic inefficient mess with no incentive to provide good service. If only it were privatized…

(For those unable to pick up on the satire, this was a veiled reference to the Net Neutrality debate, contrasting our public transportation infrastructure with our private communications infrastructure).

Technorati Tags: Net Neutrality, Interstate Highways, Transportation, Engineering