Yeah you little PUKE, that's part of our rights as Americans - freedom to travel where and when we frickin choose!
Grrrr. This little commie ........(insert pejorative) needs to be ...........(insert word-phrase).
Probably because it is a necessity, and we already pay a heavy price for the priviledge. In the beginning, utilities were coops and non-profit, until someone decided that much more money could be generated by the infusion of the profit motive rather than the necessity motive ie doing something for the public good.
Fortunately most folks are able to meet the necessity obligations. Some things like electricity, are probably cheaper today than in yesteryear. The bottom line answer to the highway question, seems to reside in the highway trust fund which is like the social security trust fund. Had it been squirreled away, and not touched, other than the interest the fund earned, there would be no problem.
Now someone is looking for a solution to a problem caused by government. Pretty common problem. Solution, reduce the size of government so that they cause fewer and fewer problems. Seems simple enough, but probably not.
It's taxing business and enterprise.
Next we'll be taxed for every click of the mouse.
That freedom to travel isn't some inalienable right from God, it is the fruits of trillions of dollars spent on road construction. Combined state and federal funding for highways alone are somewhere around 140 billion dollars a year. That money has to come from somewhere.
The potential big brother aspects of pay by usage are frightening, but looking strictly at the economic side it makes alot of sense.