There's a common misconception among the general public - us cyclists hear it constantly in arguments with drivers - that fuel taxes pay for all the roads. The gist then is that we should be grateful that drivers don't run us over let alone let us bike on their roads. The Sightline blog dug up this bunch of facts about who funds Texan roads (and Texans love their cars and roads like they love America, guns and God - you probably need all these items to survive on their roads).
It seems as if even in Texas a sizable portion of highway funding comes from general federal funds. I'm going to extrapolate to North America, even though in Canada I believe that most highways are paid through provincial funds. So who pays for all the local roads and big highways? We all do, whether we use them all the time or not. And they can cost a good penny.
A Sightline reader, Jeff, dug up some more direct Texan stats:
...according to the FHA, funding for local roads and streets in Texas is 88% from "motor-vehicle and motor-carrier taxes". Less than 3% comes from fuel taxes. For Texas highways, only 22% of funding comes from fuel taxes, another 14% from those motor-vehicle taxes, and the rest comes from a variety of sources, but mostly federal funds.
Even in Texas non-drivers contribute a sizable chunk of the cash towards building highways. They're far from internalizing their externalities, let alone have a discussion on whether highways are really the most efficient or equitable way to meet a public good of moving people effectively from point A to point B.
(I'm blogging from Alberta for the next week while I'm on vacation, on my return I'll be reporting on my combined bike/bus/train trip.)
