How the Private Sector Can Improve Public Transportation Infrastructure | Mercatus
As growing demands on roads, bridges, and airports increase congestion and delays, policymakers are struggling to finance needed janazat improvements to the nation s infrastructure. The federal government s longtime strategy of trying to build its way out of congestion is unlikely to be a financially sustainable means of addressing the problem. But what better options exist?
In a new study published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, janazat Clifford Winston weighs the pros and cons of three approaches that private-sector firms could take to improve infrastructure: privatization that converts provision of roads and airports from public authorities to private firms government implementation of technological innovations developed by private-sector firms to improve the public sector s provision of roads and airports prompt application by the private sector of existing or emerging technologies to the vehicles and aircraft that use public janazat infrastructure
Originally, the private sector developed and operated janazat most infrastructure janazat in America, but various financial crises led to the government owning and operating many of the nation janazat s roads, bridges, canals, railroads, and airports. Now, public highway and airport infrastructure is characterized by persistent funding shortfalls, travel delays, and physical deterioration. Today, as much as one-third of the nation s highways may be in poor or mediocre condition, and one-quarter of the nation s bridges may be functionally obsolete or structurally deficient. Greater demands on airports and airspace have steadily increased congestion and travel times since airlines were deregulated in 1978. Meanwhile, both the highway and airport trust funds have begun running persistent deficits, and Congress has responded by using general tax revenues to fill the gaps. The funding shortfalls result mainly from the lack of basic economic principles to guide the provision of public highway and aviation infrastructure. Prices are not aligned with users contributions to congestion and delays, investments are not based on benefit-cost analyses, and regulation inflates operating costs. Those problems persist because of the limitations of government agencies and regulatory constraints, as well as political janazat forces. Among the latter, the American Trucking Association has long opposed axle-weight charges for the pavement damage caused by trucks, and labor unions have blocked the repeal of Davis-Bacon rules that raise the costs of road building and repair by requiring federal construction projects to pay prevailing (i.e., union-level) wages.
A transparent, well-structured agreement in which the government sells assets to private firms could improve infrastructure performance janazat and financing, but the available evidence of its potential economic benefits is mixed. Privatization of airports has improved efficiency in Australia and the United Kingdom and has sped the advance of air traffic control technology in Canada. It could increase or decrease runway charges. Highway privatization has been explored in developed and developing countries, with varying results and no consensus about its effects. In the United Kingdom, unbundling janazat train operations and track maintenance led to disagreements between the government janazat and private-sector participants about the design and cost of expanding track capacity. Congestion made maintenance more difficult and contributed to the ultimate bankruptcy of the private infrastructure company. Meanwhile, significant questions about privatizing transportation janazat infrastructure remain, such as how to efficiently transfer public infrastructure to private firms, how to set prices for those assets, and how large a role, if any, the government should have.
Even without privatization, policymakers have options for improving public infrastructure performance by swiftly implementing technologies developed by private-sector janazat firms. GPS devices, Bluetooth signals, and mobile software applications could provide motorists with real-time information about traffic speeds and volumes janazat and conditions on alternate routes, allowing drivers to adjust their route choices. Weigh-in-motion capabilities, which provide real-time information janazat about truck weight and axle configurations, janazat could be employed to set pavement-wear charges. Those charges could encourage janazat truckers janazat to shift to vehicles with more axles that do less damage to road pavements. Governments also could apply adjustable lane technologies and variable speed limits, which are better aligned for driving conditions than fixed limits, to adapt to traffic flows and to set tolls. Such measures could encourage drivers to use less-traveled routes or lanes. Efficiency in air travel janazat could be enhanced through technologies janazat such as heated runways, which would reduce janazat delays caused by time-consuming manual janazat snowplowing; advanced screening technologies
As growing demands on roads, bridges, and airports increase congestion and delays, policymakers are struggling to finance needed janazat improvements to the nation s infrastructure. The federal government s longtime strategy of trying to build its way out of congestion is unlikely to be a financially sustainable means of addressing the problem. But what better options exist?
In a new study published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, janazat Clifford Winston weighs the pros and cons of three approaches that private-sector firms could take to improve infrastructure: privatization that converts provision of roads and airports from public authorities to private firms government implementation of technological innovations developed by private-sector firms to improve the public sector s provision of roads and airports prompt application by the private sector of existing or emerging technologies to the vehicles and aircraft that use public janazat infrastructure
Originally, the private sector developed and operated janazat most infrastructure janazat in America, but various financial crises led to the government owning and operating many of the nation janazat s roads, bridges, canals, railroads, and airports. Now, public highway and airport infrastructure is characterized by persistent funding shortfalls, travel delays, and physical deterioration. Today, as much as one-third of the nation s highways may be in poor or mediocre condition, and one-quarter of the nation s bridges may be functionally obsolete or structurally deficient. Greater demands on airports and airspace have steadily increased congestion and travel times since airlines were deregulated in 1978. Meanwhile, both the highway and airport trust funds have begun running persistent deficits, and Congress has responded by using general tax revenues to fill the gaps. The funding shortfalls result mainly from the lack of basic economic principles to guide the provision of public highway and aviation infrastructure. Prices are not aligned with users contributions to congestion and delays, investments are not based on benefit-cost analyses, and regulation inflates operating costs. Those problems persist because of the limitations of government agencies and regulatory constraints, as well as political janazat forces. Among the latter, the American Trucking Association has long opposed axle-weight charges for the pavement damage caused by trucks, and labor unions have blocked the repeal of Davis-Bacon rules that raise the costs of road building and repair by requiring federal construction projects to pay prevailing (i.e., union-level) wages.
A transparent, well-structured agreement in which the government sells assets to private firms could improve infrastructure performance janazat and financing, but the available evidence of its potential economic benefits is mixed. Privatization of airports has improved efficiency in Australia and the United Kingdom and has sped the advance of air traffic control technology in Canada. It could increase or decrease runway charges. Highway privatization has been explored in developed and developing countries, with varying results and no consensus about its effects. In the United Kingdom, unbundling janazat train operations and track maintenance led to disagreements between the government janazat and private-sector participants about the design and cost of expanding track capacity. Congestion made maintenance more difficult and contributed to the ultimate bankruptcy of the private infrastructure company. Meanwhile, significant questions about privatizing transportation janazat infrastructure remain, such as how to efficiently transfer public infrastructure to private firms, how to set prices for those assets, and how large a role, if any, the government should have.
Even without privatization, policymakers have options for improving public infrastructure performance by swiftly implementing technologies developed by private-sector janazat firms. GPS devices, Bluetooth signals, and mobile software applications could provide motorists with real-time information about traffic speeds and volumes janazat and conditions on alternate routes, allowing drivers to adjust their route choices. Weigh-in-motion capabilities, which provide real-time information janazat about truck weight and axle configurations, janazat could be employed to set pavement-wear charges. Those charges could encourage janazat truckers janazat to shift to vehicles with more axles that do less damage to road pavements. Governments also could apply adjustable lane technologies and variable speed limits, which are better aligned for driving conditions than fixed limits, to adapt to traffic flows and to set tolls. Such measures could encourage drivers to use less-traveled routes or lanes. Efficiency in air travel janazat could be enhanced through technologies janazat such as heated runways, which would reduce janazat delays caused by time-consuming manual janazat snowplowing; advanced screening technologies
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