General Road and Highway Discussion

[tomh009]

p2ee, which U.S. highways do you have in mind? A lot of turnpikes in the U.S. do charge tolls, and you're right that they're low, but the tolls do not cover the entire cost of the highway. Some have tolls set to cover maintenance, but not the capital costs of the highway.

Thanks for the info on 407 ETR profit. Doesn't that suggest that, were the tolls 25% lower, they would cover the cost of the highway? That level would still be rather higher than tolls in the U.S.

I am thinking of the Illinois tollway, which is almost entirely self-funded, including their capital costs.   Here's an accounting of their 2017 year.  Page 44 has the high level accounting.  I just calculated a 90 km trip on that network would cost me about $3.75 USD.  I'd be looking at about 4 times as much cost on the 407.

A lot (possibly the majority) of the Illinois toll roads were constructed more than 50 years ago and will surely have been paid off by now so that will also skew the comparison.