Who would build the roads? Five answers from history

Say you doubt that the state is necessary, and within minutes someone will ask: but who would build the roads? It is a fair question. It also has better answers than most people expect, because history is full of roads that no central state built.

1. English turnpike trusts

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, much of England’s road network was built and maintained by more than a thousand local turnpike trusts. They raised money from local investors and charged tolls to users. These roads carried the coaches, wagons and mail of the Industrial Revolution. Railways, not taxes, eventually made most of them obsolete.

2. Swedish road associations

Sweden today has tens of thousands of kilometres of private roads looked after by local road associations. The people who live along a road share the cost of keeping it open, many with a public subsidy, but the decisions are made locally, by the people who actually use the road.

3. Private streets in St. Louis

Since the 19th century, some streets in St. Louis, Missouri, have been owned by the residents who live on them. The residents’ associations maintain them, control traffic and keep them safe. In the 1970s, the architect Oscar Newman found these private streets quieter and safer than comparable public ones nearby, although later research on street closures across the city has been more mixed.

4. Toll motorways today

Large parts of the motorway networks in France and Italy are built and run by private concession holders and paid for by the people who drive on them. Electronic tolling now makes it cheap to charge for almost any road, removing the old argument that roads cannot be paid for by their users.

5. Shopping centers and private towns

Every shopping center provides streets, lighting, cleaning and security for free, paid for out of the rents of its shops, because the owners want customers to come. In Gurgaon, India, private developers built roads, water and security for a whole city faster than the government could. Developers know that land with good access is worth more.

The real question

None of these examples is perfect. Neither are state roads, with their potholes, political projects and decades-long delays. The question is not whether voluntary provision would be flawless, but whether it would be better than a tax-funded monopoly that you pay for whether you use it or not, and cannot leave.

Read the full argument, including lighthouses and help for the poor, in our guide public goods without a state, and the short answers in the FAQ.