American Roads Can’t Match French Highways Paved by Tolls

[ZLoth]

From Bloomberg:

American Roads Can't Match French Highways Paved by Tolls

For seven weeks this fall, asphalt pavers worked nights and weekends to renovate the motorway between Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport and an amusement park devoted to Asterix, the Gallic comic-book rebel beloved by generations of French children. By Oct. 31, they had wrapped up the work on schedule, and traffic now flows along the four-mile stretch of highway.

A few miles to the north lies the source of funding for the project -- and the reason France's autoroutes are in better shape than most of the U.S. network: a toll booth. Drivers must pay to use 78 percent of major French highways, compared with about 3 percent of the National Highway System in the U.S.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[Brandon]

^^ Yeah, but we have electronic tolling, and the French are stuck in the 1980s.

[SteveG1988]

^^ Yeah, but we have electronic tolling, and the French are stuck in the 1980s.

The NJ turnpike was able to redo the car lanes between exit 6 and 8a rather quickly as well. Ahead of schedule too.

[jeffandnicole]

OK, so they repaved 4 miles of roadway over a 7 week period.  That sounds, um, slow.

And they're knocking all of America for that?  If it's a simple repaving project, I don't see what the problem is.  If they're doing more in-depth work, then it'll take longer...just like any other place in the world.

[Laura]

Are you advocating for more toll roads? Because, well, I'm okay with the quality of our system overall as is.

Interestingly, had we not had the Federal Highway Aid Act in 1956, I suspect that we would have had a lot more toll roads and two lane highways in rural areas that were never upgraded to limited access.


iPhone

[6a]

It's hilarious that this article is praising a free market French system and knocking the government controlled American one.

[Scott5114]

Tolling isn't a cure all when it comes to road quality. Look at the Oklahoma turnpike system, or the privatized Indiana Toll Road.

[-NCX75-]

Eh, it really depends on the system... look at the NTTA; they're money-grubbers that everyone hates, and some of their projects may be boondoggles, but the roads themselves are very nice. I've only been on the Kansas Turnpike once that I can remember, but it was pristine.

But yeah, Oklahoma turnpikes... (shudder)