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The BIG DIG i think is now over $12B although it was origainally estimated to cost $2.6B

Disclaimer: I am from Western Massachusetts (west of 495 for over a decade, west of Worcester for about 9 years, and west of the Quabbin for two), where various proposals have been floated that would make the people west of Boston pay for the Big Dig, a massively expensive (and arguably necessary) highway reconstruction project which, at any given moment, is not being used by many people west of Worcester. I'm also somewhat of a road geek. As a young child I would spend hours sketching out designs for highway interchanges. There are few things I find more enjoyable on road trips than studying the design of the roads and watching their construction and rebuilding.

Under the Interstate Highway and Defense Act passed in 1956, the states would receive a sum proportional to the amount of federal gasoline taxes taken from the state. Originally, those funds could only be used for building highways. As a result every state, through about 1970, went on a highway binge. By 1972, save for major portions in Northeastern cities (Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston) most of the system had been built. Why? Because state politicians knew that construction brought good union jobs for free (the Feds were paying 90% of the cost).

In the 1970s, Congress allowed Interstate funds to be used to build public transport systems. With many states having finished their interstates, save for useless spurs that are still built to this day, the party was over. But now that they could build public transport, they started with a vengeance.

Nowadays, very little of the gas tax money goes to construction or maintenance, because the construction has been done and most of the maintenance is cheaper, but the gas tax money has increased dramatically as the number of miles driven increases.

Thus, in many states, the legislatures have gotten addicted to the road money. If their state has lower gas consumption, less money goes to the State House. So it's no surprise that nowadays, public transport gets cut (because the more driving gets done, the more money flows in for political pork projects (stadiums, etc.)). It's also no surprise why the States are perfectly willing to roll back emissions standards, as an Excursion generates some 3 times more gas taxes than a Saturn SL1, and some 5 times more than a Toyota Prius. So few states really encourage their citizens to buy non-SUV's.

If the gas tax were abolished and roads were paid for by who actually used them, things wopuld change for the better, IMHO. If this happens we might actually see states doing sane things like discouraging massive fuel inefficiency (for example, charging extra for registrations of low-efficiency vehicles in urban areas (as a practical matter, restricting trucks in rural areas isn't going to work. The farm lobbies are too powerful). Remember, the problem with monster SUVs are the people in urban/suburban areas who drive them and don't need them). Also, there's this simple fact, which is nice. Those who use the superhighways pay for them. A decent-sized number of Americans drive a lot (thus paying gas taxes), while only utilizing superhighways (which account for the majority of expenditure) rarely. This is a slight inequity.

The reason that more roads, especially in cities, aren't toll roads, is because of the historical overhead of tolls, such as widening the roads and the traffic problems. However, nowadays most toll roads have an electronic option, with EZPass being the most common. By using this option, existing highways can be made toll roads with little overhead.

Pray what magic is it that ensures that privately funded space exploration would be more efficient?

Smaller space-oriented enterprises will be forced to innovate and produce something that people want. Manufacturing and entertainment come to mind, as well as the potential for space tourism. Time and time again, it has been shown that projects given a governmental crutch fail misearably, due to corruption or mismanagement (I live in Boston, the Big Dig is a classic example of this.) If space proves to be profitable on any front (not just financially, but also academically), large companies with more resources will take notice, causing competition, and a healty market.

Oh yeh, and do email me if your party ever gets a coherent line on intellectual property and privacy regulation.

Libertarian Party Platform:
Statement of Principles
Protection of Privacy

I don't want to sound like a shill for the LP, but at least their platform is spelled out for all to see, and their politicians are there to facilitate them, as opposed to the "flavor-of-the-week"-style politics of the GOP and Democrats..

In Boston we used to have something called Tunnel Radio (it's passed hands many times in the past few years). What happens is inside tunnels such as the Dewey Square Tunnel (I-93) a blanket AM broadcast is transmitted. Originally because of Boston's notorious traffic this was used to beam traffic information and subliminal anti-suicide messages to keep everyone calm in the exhaust filled hellhole. Now I think some radio station has the rights and broadcasts classified advertisements.

Recently, with the Big Dig there's yet another low power radio station. I forget if it's AM or FM, but it has a range of approximitly the area of construction (the financial district and southie) Both of these are or were government run, and are totally legit. They're a good example of the usefullness of low powered stations, which the FCC should allow anyone to get a liscense for.

It would also be neat if while sitting in traffic I could tune to Slashdot FM and use my cell phone to dial in with a "FIRST POST".