There are many private highways in the United States.
The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, begun in 1792 between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Lancaster, Pennsylvania was the first major American turnpike. According to Gerald Gunderson's Privatization and the 19th-Century Turnpike, "In the first three decades of the 19th century Americans built more than 10,000 miles of turnpikes, mostly in New England and the Middle Atlantic states. Relative to the economy at that time, this effort exceeded the post-World War II interstate highway system that present-day Americans assume had to be primarily planned and financed by the federal government". Because electronics did not exist in that era, all tolls had to be collected by human cashiers at toll booths, creating high fixed costs that could only be covered by a large volume of traffic. As railroads and steamboats began to compete with the turnpikes, the companies started to shut down their less profitable routes or turn them over to governments. (See Category:Pre-freeway turnpikes in the United States for a listing.)
The National Bridge Inventory lists roughly 2,200 privately owned highway bridges in 41 states and Puerto Rico.
Read more about Private Highways In The United States: Indiana Toll Road, Reedy Creek Improvement District, Dalton Highway, California, Dulles Greenway, Texas, Illinois, Colorado, Toll Roads To Serve Development
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