Is it possible to privatize interstate/intrastate transportation systems?

this seems to suggest that private highways are legal. I am not sure what limits this, or what keeps the companies that currently work constructing our highways from implementing this more frequently?

here again more info

I wonder if I bought a piece of land that was in between two major highways, if I could then build a road thereon and make a toll to use the shortcut!

You can, and my family did. Everyone on this lane was in my family. It was all private land. The Government even sent us street signs.

But we were liable for anything that happened on that quarter mile.

yeah, i remember learning about this in school very briefly. i recall a teacher mentioning that you can toll a road if you own the land it’s on…and if people choose to use the road, then they pay you, and thats that. interesting!

Isn’t that what toll roads are? Only certain people (those who are willing to pay) have access to them.

Many of the toll roads in the US are private and some are owned by foreign countries.

A local guy bought up surplus ROW along a county road and placed road blocks across peoples driveways and demanded $50 per month to cross over his thin strip. Court ruled he was within his rights.

California State Routes 91 and 125 are recently built private toll roads.
http://www.91expresslanes.com/
http://www.southbayexpressway.com/

The Chicago Skyway, connecting Illinois and Indiana, was leased to a private company in 2005. They keep the tolls and are responsible for all maintenance and operating expenses.
http://www.chicagoskyway.org/

Here’s a US Federal Highway Administration article:
The Return of Private Toll Roads.
“In little more than 12 months, beginning in late 2004, the following events occurred: A Spanish toll road company proposed to invest $7.2 billion to build the first leg of the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), a major highway, rail, and utility corridor running north-south from Oklahoma to Mexico. A global consortium agreed to pay $1.8 billion to lease, toll, operate, and maintain the Chicago Skyway for 99 years. And an Australian toll road operator bought out a struggling public-private toll road in Virginia.”
http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/06mar/06.htm