Chad the Elder — conservative blogger and sometime radio pundit — loves the toll road connecting Denver with Denver International Airport. He praises the E-470's "wide-open, hassle free ride" and friendly attendants:
I have to believe that these attendants are not state employees and if that is the case, they--and the E-470--make a powerful argument for further privatization of our highways and byways.
Would the fact that the E-470 was built and is run by government make an equally powerful argument for the public sector? Would private investors have had the vision — and the
patience — more than 15 years ago to build a "road to nowhere" through
scrubby wasteland north of Denver?
Because, you see, the E-470 is operated by a public authority composed of the municipalities bordering the toll road. Its budget [pdf] is funded by vehicle registration fees as well as tolls. Built in 1991, the highway has been designed to allow for the addition of multi-use paths and, in the median, future mass transit.
Certainly, private enterprise can play a key role in providing public goods, like the timely replacement of the I-35W bridge. But we should steer clear of ideologically based assumptions that government is incapable of smiling service, efficient systems or innovative thinking.
In fact, we'd all be better off if that was our normal expectation.
— Charlie Quimby
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