Abolish the Department of Transportation

IT DOESN'T EVEN BUILD THE ROADS. IT JUST INCREASES COSTS.

- CHRISTIAN BRITSCHGI

"WHO WILL BUILD the roads?" That's the classic gotcha question posed to libertarians, who do in fact have a lot of answers for who will build the roads. The most straightforward retort is "not the U.S.

Department of Transportation, which doesn't even build the roads now." Of all the organs of the federal government, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is the most like the gallbladder: a useless sac that, when inflamed, prevents proper circulation in the rest of the body. It should be abolished.

To understand why it could be safely eliminated, consider what it actually does now.

First, it provides infrastructure grants to state and local governments. Second, it owns and operates the nation's outdated air traffic control system (in which floppy disks are still essential). Finally, it acts as a safety regulator for the various modes of transportation, from cars to buses to trucks to trains. None of these functions requires the existence of a federal, cabinet-level department, which serves mostly to increase costs and reduce efficiency.

For starters, most highways and surface streets are owned and maintained by local and state governments, who also spend the majority of the country's road dollars. The federal government collects a federal gas tax, and various other transportation taxes, which are then distributed via grant programs back to states and local governments to spend on their own infrastructure.