[sdeframond]

I share your feeling. However

> pay whatever the market rate

would only work if there is a market. And infrastructures like roads are a natural monopoly[0], so there could be no market.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly

[dbdr]

I don't think the idea is to have a market of roads to chose from. It is to make the existing car market more efficient by fixing the externality of other people paying for the damage you do to the roads by your choice of (heavy) vehicule.

[citrin_ru]

Heavy semi-trailer trucks disproportionally damage the roads, if they'll pay a fair share groceries could become unaffordable.

[hopelite]

Even though it may change with technological developments, are you aware that EVs are the heaviest vehicles on the market, by somewhere around 140% the weight of ICE vehicle equivalents?

[mothballed]

That's weird because there's no public road near me for miles and I can get 90% of the way to "town" without them.

I've also connected my private roads to a couple other private roads so no one has a monopoly on my way to town.

As for the "barriers to entry" mentioned in that article, is absolutely wild. My road and most the ones in our grid network were made with little more than a dude and a tractor (I think you can get suitable one for $10k off craigslist). I initially made mine with an axe, a light truck, and a rope (to rip out small trees) and there's nothing stopping anyone adjacent from doing the same if I'd block the road.

[dmurray]

Do you understand why this isn't a workable solution for everyone, and likely not even for the last 10% of your journey?