By now, everyone within a 50-mile radius of a television or radio has heard about the rush-hour collapse of the Interstate 35 bridge in Minnesota. The public reaction to this news has been a call for increased bridge inspections, carried out by government officials. Brad Edmonds, a writer for the Ludwig von Mises institute provides a great critique of this outcry.
If bridge and road quality is waning, private engineering firms and construction companies, who rely on their public reputation, should be hired to provide the needed repairs. Under ideal circumstances, the roads would be privatized, leaving the owner to provide for the safety of his customers, or travelers. However, this is not the ideal case, and the best course of action would be to allow those companies which have an incentive to provide quality work to conduct the repairs of public roads.
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