If they "belong to the public," they belong to the government. If they do not belong to the government, then they are owned by a private entity. Said entity may consist of one or more individuals.
Nope, the government separated itself from the public interest quite awhile back.
Used to be, the public owned the roads and the government maintained them.
Now, the government owns the roads.
Otherwise, how does one explain the content of this news article?
You think the public wants all these surcharges for silly nanny-state traffic violations?
The only way the governments get away with it is incrementalism and picking us off one at a time.