Amazing how they tried to slow him down to invalidate his effort while picking up the pace to not be completely embarrassed. Had he done nothing that road would still be 2-3 years away and further over budget.

Government standard is: take as long as possible to do the cheapest job possible at the highest cost possible so you can get the most kickbacks possible.

Great video. A key point is that the road cost 1/10th of what the government was going to spend. That's a lesson for anyone who thinks taxes are some kind of necessary price to have infrastructure. The overwhelming majority of the money goes to nonsense.

Glad he at least broke even! Government hates competition!

The biggest issue with government roads is that they are obligated by contracts to hire specific companies for the job, who are unionized and demand outrages payouts , while doing minimal work.

Ah, John Stossel, the guy who made me become a Libertarian. Thanks, John, you're doing God's work!!

The telling sentence is when Mike started doing interviews, the public road got done faster.

As a kid in the early 80s the news ran a story of how a hammer cost the US govt $400. I asked mum why when they only cost $5 (or whatever it was then) in the store. Her answer in short - red tape. Early lesson that stuck with me.

Thank you for our daily reminder that the government is the worst possible "solution" for any problem. We ban monopolies. Why? Because they are unquestionably bad for the consumer. And yet people continue to support the largest and most anti-consumer monopoly of all: government. "The scariest words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help" - Ronald Reagan

Endless regulation , it’s one reason they’ve managed to double the price of fuel in less than a year n a half.

Stossel watching your videos is like brewing coffee that just been roasted. Keep them coming. Big fan.

"I hope the bloke makes a million quid out of it" - now THAT is the right attitude.

Because the government is so good at doing things, they shouldn't be allowed to touch anything.

Bureaucrats always need to feel important. If you’re doing something without their approval, they’ll object to everything until their narcissistic mind is satisfied. That’s government around the world.

The people of Honolulu, Hawaii need this guy to come and take over the railroad project on the Island of Oahu. The project/formal studies started in late-2006, the construction was scheduled to start in December, 2009, and the costs of the project was estimated to be about $5.3 billion. So far (as of May, 2022), the City and County of Honolulu has already spent over $12.5 billion and the Island of Oahu still does not have a running train (and we do not know when we will have it).

Me and my mum used this toll to get to wales. Massive time saver! Even after the road opened again sometimes due to traffic that route is quicker

I do remember this story a few years back and I'm glad John Stossel did this story. The person who created this road (length was 400 yards) did something what the councils or another government agency couldn't do and that's the beauty of the free market.

Stossel the goat 🐐

Amazing! Couldn't agree more, regulation and cronyism cause this! Here they paved a section of the Merritt Parkway, it was nicely done. Six months later they start cutting random slots in this same section, this has been going on for years and the traffic is absolutely insane. It often takes a hour to go a mile, I can ride 20mph on my bicycle. Bridgeport on the other hand paved an entire main road in about 1-2 days, AMAZING, it was really well done no bumps! The parkway and i95 are all chopped up and bumpy. I don't know how you could do such a bad job filling all the holes and I'm sure hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on this work, sometimes it actually improves the road like with the Q bridge (just took 20 years..) most of the time it just creates traffic for years and the road is a mess, I think they are doing such a bad job in some spots it's very dangerous to drive through these spots, and they're major routes! Insanity.

Thanks Mr. Stossel for showing us one of your classic videos that reminds us of your impressive career.

All good British ideas begin in the pub

Sounds like the local government needs to implement some regulations to prevent anyone else from trying to solve a problem the government struggles to solve. Otherwise people might start catching on to how many things we can do without the government. That'll hurt politicians pockets and frankly that is unacceptable.

Do a segment on how Brightline is building a high speed rail system in Florida. It will be massively more efficient than the "free" government run I-95. Also, California tried to do a government funded high speed rail but its been plagued with all kinds of issues. High speed rail is long overdue and vastly superior to massive roads that are jammed whenever lots of people want to use them, but it took a private company in a red state with no income tax to break through.

"But who will build the roads?!" Anyone interested in having said roads built. Prime example are supermarkets and malls - they're VERY interested in people being able to come do business with them.

Sadly, we ignored our governments for far too long. And now we have this cesspool of corruption that we aren't able to course correct, easily. Exactly, what the founding fathers wanted to avoid.

Less Government means less bullshit

What an awesome story. Thanks John.

This is such an amazing story, thanks for sharing.

I’m happy he broke even. Well done.

My lovely and incompetent and corrupt government allowed a road developer the concession to build and operate a 70-mile 2-lane highway costing $151 million through the countryside. The developer/owner collects tolls of about $40 roundtrip for a car and also collects a shadow toll from taxpayers. The shadow toll is to make up for less than expected/projected vehicles using it. The shadow toll averages $50 million a year (in 2021 it was $80m) and so taxpayers have paid $400 million in shadow tolls for the $150 million road so far. The best part is the 30-year contract so maybe $1.5 billion for a $151 million road. As I said, incompetence and corruption but it is a privately operated road where 99% of the company shares are in a Cayman Island company with secret shareholders. And private is always better than public?

Thanks for this John

This is an amazing story

Great story!

thanks John - another lesson in common sense and the stupidity of big government - what a tangled web we are weaving for ourselves.

Loved the lady's quote"if only the council had thought of it themselves......

I agree with preserving archaeology and the environment! These should be the ONLY things considered when building.

I was thinking about toll roads the other day. In the US they usually have gas taxes set aside for public toll-free roads. In Canada they use a general sales tax. So in Canada you are subsizing other people to drive if you commute by foot. But I digress. The taxes help make it so that drivers don't have to stop at a toll-booth every time they want to enter a highway. We could use gas taxes to pay for private roads, but that might open the door for crony capitalism. But with that risk comes the reward of market competition, if there is a multiplicity of competitors bidding on building, maintaining, and operating the roads. What I find interesting is the new toll system of using an electronic transponder. For the first time in history we have a seamless system through which drivers can be billed according to the exact amount of mileage they consume, and by the exact weight of the vehicle if it's a heavy commercial truck. I think the government's only roll in road building should be in the preliminary zoning phase, ensuring that there are no land disputes and that basic standards of quality are met. Even those rolls could conceivably be privitized. I think a completely privitized society that maintains or increases peace & prosperity represents the ultimate societal achievement. The challenge becomes what I dub the 'Indiana Jones Effect' whereby Jones has to replace the valuable object with something else without setting off the booby-trap. We have to figure out a way of switching expensive public infrastructure with competitive private infrastructure without upsetting the public. This is the true mission of libertarians.

In usa here. Good show man. The world needs more people like him. If all the politics were gone it would be hard but we.d survive. If all the free thinkers were gone we.d have nothing left. Government is necessary however to much and it destroys it self

Great show

I’ve worked on P3 projects, design build and design bid build and sometimes stossel oversimplifies things. P3’s and DB are awful from my own experience. Costs come in higher, quality is horrendous and it creates so much disruption when you have cut corners and have to redo work That being said there are dumb onerous environment, public consultation and archeological regulations that hold projects up. It’s made worse by politicians who want more discussions with the public

My faith in humanity is increasing because of this man, and decreasing because of the wonderful governments around the world.

If I could I would hug this video😁

1:00-1:15, great video! Wow! To hear of an agreement of this magnitude sealed with a handshake (in the 21st century) is unheard of. But it is wonderful to see that a handshake deal can happen today.

When I tell people, "Taxation is theft!" Their usual response is, "but without taxes there won't be any roads!!!!!" I'll have to bookmark this video.

doing the lords work john

The big dig in Boston is a huge government crap hole. The Chunnel under the English channel was privately built. Under budget and done on time. What else do you need to know?

spot on mate, spot on!

Amazing what a little competition does

Oh, yes. You don't dig a hole in England, until it's had an Archeological Dig to ascertain if there is a Roman villa, Anglo Saxon burial ground, or a Bronze Age round house beneath it. They have thousands of years of history on their little island, that wasn't always separated from Europe and Norway. They truly found one of their less popular kings buried outside of church grounds, beneath a parking area.

That's awesome.

Wow. That's impressive

US never tells but when cars were new, there were many privately owned toll roads. Where I live in illinois, it took over 20 years from beginning to plan a toll road to actual opening. As soon as they opened it, lanes were blocked as they started construction AGAIN to widen the road they finished building.

Keep the good job!

"Who will build the roads?" People who actually care.

Another great example why private enterprise is better that big gov.

IM FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND IM HERE TO HELP

Amazing.

John speaking with ppl from Britain, should happen more often

The only thing here I can really complain about is the quip about archaeology. It doesn't matter if you are in a city or field in Great Britain, there is a pretty good chance that you are standing on hundreds, perhaps thousands of years of history that _will_ be destroyed by putting a shovel through it. For example the 2nd biggest city in Scotland is nothing but a field today, on the surface anyways. The density of remains on that island are such that you cannot discount any piece of it. And if you care enough about your community that you do this to serve them, you should care just as much about the history of your community. The staggering number of remarkable finds, on occasion LITERAL KINGS, found purely because of an archaeological survey (through either digging or pinpointing the location) on new construction (not sure of the exact details, but it seems to come into play anytime you dig as part of construction) is mindblowing. Now, maybe they tossed that at this guy in a manner that would not be considered good form and if so, that is bullshit, plain and simple. But if he was talking about this regulation that says you need an archaeological survey for construction and further stipulates the protection of certain things, such as graves (which can be removed, by archaeologists, thus allowing development to continue, last I knew anyways). If that is what he was talking about, I want him to think about what would happen if people did not have to care about the ground under their feet. How many would even notice when an abbey from a thousand years ago, existing as a foundation under a field, got bulldozed to put in a new building, how many would even care? The answer is plain to see: way more people than one need, in order to justify such regulation. caveat: and all of this, from the mouth of an avowed libertarian. edit: I was talking about Roxburgh in Scotland. Not the current village with the same name, but the one that was actually a royal residence 800 years ago. It is basically nothing but some fields and hillocks these days, some above ground remains, but nothing that looks special at first glance or to the untrained eye.

ty

If I’d have known this road was being built, I’d have donated to its construction as a matter of principle. Props from central Ohio.

Amazing I had no idea that was possible

Just a couple of guys shaking hands. This is the way.

Im always amazed how people can get things done either thru private or gov means and no one ever thinks maybe its the result that more important than the method

3:51 - spoken like a true American

Very interesting seeing it in Britain but not shocking.

Love it!

Exactly! Too many regulations that do almost nothing.

Mind of the "pro-free market" statist: "Sure the market can put rockets in orbit, but TO BUILD ROADS? It can never happen"

I love this

Nice.

Inspirational. I'd like to see that be done for private highspeed railways.

I think it's good for people to do stuff like this. We have a road like this in my town.

Awesome ..

Good job

Even Jeremy Clarkson can build a road. Seriously, how hard can it be?

I can remember when this happened, this guy is an absolute legend. Local councils go out of their way in England to try and control specific details that don't matter. They "temporarily" introduced an appointment system at rubbish tips during the pandemic. Guess what, pandemics over and they have decided now they prefer it. So now we can't just drive to the tip with our rubbish we have to register our car to prove we live in the correct area and pre-book an appointment with a time slot to drop our rubbish off and they employ an extra person to sit at the entrance checking people's registrations.

Keep loving the freedom

Just keep doing what you're doing John, I'm sure sooner or later the Newer Generations will Think and Figure things out

in cali...back to over night road work.... 20 years now.

Ooo, ive been trying to think about this one for a while

I don't think the city road is wrong or too expensive. It's a higher quality road, paved and following standards set by engineers. I'd much rather drive on the government road. But this is proof that we don't NEED government for roads. And that's a great thing.

You should always do a geologic survey before a big build in a place with that much history

Brilliant job. Now we need one on private courts.

The fact is, most things government does it should not be doing and the private sector can do it better, faster, and cheaper. It would be wise to move more things away from government control.

Yep and yet there are all kinds of morons that just keep calling for more regulations.

I hope we can build something like that here in New Hampshire

The toll booth operator is really cute :)

My bf is a traffic engineer. He's told me so many times about their projects and how it will take around 10 years sometimes to get a project done. It's ridiculous. All because of government regulations. I asked what if a private firm did the same job? It's always quicker and cheaper to do it private. I hate how taxes are spent.

In America, you best have good liability insurance if providing a road to the public on private land.

Regulations are made for people who don’t care, but bothers only those who follow them while those they were made for find ways to go around them… and that’s why we end up with so many laws and regulations that should really be left up to common sense….

Hello John, I would appreciate to see a video about Roe vs. Wade from you. Thanks 👍

The archaeological survey would actually be a very good idea, given our history

his last sentence: "we've just got too far" - how true!!!!!!!

Yeah!

The story of government is 'there's no power in Yes - only in No'.

You should look into privately build Pont de la 25, Montreal, Canada

Ahhh, break even after all that headache. To bad he didn't make a bunch for being a innovative

We keep getting close to Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil

“Government is not the solution to the problem, government IS the problem.” -Ronald Reagan