Overview

Street Smart examines the privatization of roads in theory and in practice.

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9780765803047

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<i>Street Smart: Competition, Entrepreneurship, and the Future of Roads</i> by Gabriel Roth was named one of the Best 10 Books of the Year 2007 in planning by Planetizen, the Planning and Development Network. Their website reads: In this provocative and enlightening compilation, the leading thinkers on privatization put forth market-based solutions for providing roadways and dealing with traffic congestion... A valuable resource for understanding the argument for privatization. </p> This collection of well-written, mostly nontechnical papers advocates private investment in roads around the world. The authoritative editor, a former World Bank economist, has assembled many leading writers on this current, widely discussed approach to relieving bottlenecks in highway construction... [T]his volume is the best and most comprehensive collection of information on a piece of future transportation policy, but not all of it. References and index are similarly excellent and comprehensive. There is no comparable recent book. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; academic audiences, upper-division undergraduate and up; professionals. </p> --D. Brand<em>, Choice</em></p> Private turnpikes were commonplace in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries but they eventually succumbed to competition from railways and onerous government regulations. <i>Street Smart</i> makes an eloquent and convincing argument that the time is ripe for the private sector to make a comeback with a boost from modern electronic tolling technology and innovative contract designs. Chapters are organized into five parts that complement each other nicely. Early chapters explain why market forces allocate resources efficiently and describe various roles for the private sector in supplying road infrastructure and services. Later chapters describe the history of private roads and some recent, encouraging, developments with privatization, and suggest alternative ways forward in the course of privatization. Written by leading economists, engineers and other professionals, <i>Street Smart</i> is essential reading for academics, policy analysts and policy makers, as well as firms contemplating involvement themselves. </p> <i>--</i>Robin Lindsey, Department of Economics, University of Alberta; Edmonton, Alberta</p>

Street Smart: Competition, Entrepreneurship, and the Future of Roads by Gabriel Roth was named one of the Best 10 Books of the Year 2007 in planning by Planetizen, the Planning and Development Network. Their website reads: In this provocative and enlightening compilation, the leading thinkers on privatization put forth market-based solutions for providing roadways and dealing with traffic congestion. A valuable resource for understanding the argument for privatization. <br><br> Private turnpikes were commonplace in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries but they eventually succumbed to competition from railways and onerous government regulations. Street Smart makes an eloquent and convincing argument that the time is ripe for the private sector to make a comeback with a boost from modern electronic tolling technology and innovative contract designs. Chapters are organized into five parts that complement each other nicely. Early chapters explain why market forces allocate resources efficiently and describe various roles for the private sector in supplying road infrastructure and services. Later chapters describe the history of private roads and some recent, encouraging, developments with privatization, and suggest alternative ways forward in the course of privatization. Written by leading economists, engineers and other professionals, Street Smart is essential reading for academics, policy analysts and policy makers, as well as firms contemplating involvement themselves. --Robin Lindsey, Department of Economics, University of Alberta; Edmonton, Alberta

Author Information

Gabriel Roth is a transport and privatization consultant and a research fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California.

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