This is not a new idea, it's called congestion pricing, and it's already in use in London. No matter what we do, a road is a limited resource. Only so many veh

This is not a new idea, it's called congestion pricing, and it's already in use in London. No matter what we do, a road is a limited resource. Only so many vehicles can use it per hour. We allocate that resource to those most willing to pay for it, but right now that payment doesn't take the form of money, it takes the form of time, frustration, of the amount of pain drivers are willing to endure to use the road. The trouble with this sort of payment is that it's not a transfer, it's just a loss. The time and energy these drivers use to get through the traffic jam is simply destroyed. In short: a traffic jam is a bread line. By measuring willingness to pay in dollars rather than in hours, we avoid that loss. The money collected can be used. It can be used to maintain the roads, to build transit, or simply redistributed to users in the form of tax cuts.