Tolls, Tolls, Everywhere

There are two ways to end the direct subsidy of roads. The first way is to privatize the roads, but this doesn't make much sense to me. The second is to dramatically expand tolls. Ideally the fee will correspond exactly with the cost the driver is imposing on the government. Heavier cars will be charged more because they cause more damage to the roads. Driving on roads that were expensive to build or are expensive to maintain (e.g. bridges) should cost more than driving on inexpesive roads.

I think there is interesting research and creative entrepreneurship needed to make this work well. We need a toll collecting mechanism (probably similar to EZPASS) that is inexpensively deployable and does not slow traffic. We also need a way of telling drivers how much they are being charged. I don't think a sign at every street corner is the answer. Better would be to store toll information in GPS navigation devices so drivers can choose from different routes based on toll cost. We also need an accurate and comprehensive model of the damage different cars do to roads and the cost of construction and maintenance of different roads.

Do you have any ideas for making ubiquitous tolls work? If you do, please post a comment.