Death comes to us all. Life's but a walking shadow | People don't understand how the gasoline tax as a dedicated source of funds built and maintains a public highway system which is used by both trucks and passenger cars. And the beautiful thing about it is that the users pay according to their use. If you choose not to drive or reduce your driving you automatically pay less. Even those people who don't drive but do get goods shipped pay through the trucking companies.
That was the major cost difference between private railroads and public highways. All the cost on maintenance fell directly on the railroad company. In the case of trucks a significant portion of the cost is shared by private citizens. It has been a pretty good system. Even the local governments get a pretty good chunk of money every year for road construction from the fuel tax from the Federal government thru the state which allows them to pave a couple of miles of road each year. Two miles a year for fifty years pretty much has gotten all our roads paved and repaved.
That said, one of the worse things that happened to this country was the neglect of the railroad system, the cost to rebuilt anything like it now would be phenomenal.
Edited by 1234 1/20/2014 13:53
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some new way of shipping
