How did the founders raise money for roads?

Damocles

Damocles

Accedo!
Staff member
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George Washington created the Mountain Road Lottery to finance the construction of Mountain Road, which opened westward expansion from Virginia.
 
This is a partial ticket, some have sold that were not purchased and used in the drawing which have the ticket number to the left of the image above...

:D
 
Building a road in 18th-century America involved simple technology and heavy labor.

Often the responsibility for building a road was passed from the state and federal government to private companies.

Once a company had built a road, it owned the rights of passage on it.

Thus, toll roads were common throughout early America. "Turnpike" refers to the large timber ("pike") that barred the roadway at each tollhouse.

When the toll was paid, the "pike" would be turned to allow the passage of traffic.

Now, of course, Big Gubmint builds and maintains roads at public expense, although tolls are still common. After all, as someone once said, "make governmnent cheap and you make it contemptible".
 
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation.

As Big Gubmint grew, the road bureaucracy grew with it.

The first predecessor of today's FHWA was the Office of Road Inquiry (ORI), founded in 1893.

In 1905 that organization's name was changed to the Office of Public Roads (OPR), and it became a division of the United States Department of Agriculture.

The name was changed to Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) in 1915.

In 1939 the name was changed to Public Roads Administration (PRA) and it was shifted to the Federal Works Agency (FWA).

With the abolition of the FWA in 1949, its name was changed back to BPR and it was shifted to the Department of Commerce.

In 1967 the BPR was transferred to the newly created FHWA.

The Department’s FY 2011 request totals $79 billion.
 
HUGO STIGLITZ said:
Lotteries are exploitative. They should be banned.
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LOL, that's what my dad says about the WA State Lotto, which keeps adding new games to its line-up (in the last year it added the Scratch Ticket and the Hit 4, the latter of which is brand new and based off of the existing Hit 5)!!

The reason why we have it is because in the 80s we were told it would fund education. Of course, since we have a general fund/black hole, and the state refuses to release the numbers on where Lotto funds go to, we know for a fact that little, if any money at all, is going to education. Which begs the question, why don't we go back to separate funds the way we used to (a system that gave us good public education, excellent roads, excellent bridges, well maintained parks, etc.), and the answer always comes back that we the people of WA should just go fuck ourselves.

Now, with the general fund, we have an I-5 corridor that is deteriorating (in Tacoma its already fallen apart), we have bridges getting ready to fail, we have a (Seattle) Viaduct that we cannot replace without going massively into debt (we just saw a mayor run out of office over this, finishing 3RD FUCKING PLACE in the primary) , we have education declining in most places, and a whole host of issues.
 
If the state wants to raise taxes, they should do it honestly. Not by exploiting the ignorance of their own people.

Also, the only reason state lotteries really generate anything is because the state usually establishes a monopoly in the area. I don't see how generating profits from a forced monopoly is any better than straight taxation.
 
I am not against lotteries particularly or for moral reasons, but I am against the government coming in and starting a single state lottery. North Carolina only started their "Education Lottery" a few years ago and it was a really shady deal, both in terms of who the state contracted with to run it, how the legislature voted it in, and where the money has been going ultimately.

People went to jail, and yet the lottery is still around.

Generally, I find that a lottery is initiated to distract from the fact that the state has lost all fiscal accountability and simply wants more of our money.

If they want to collect more taxes, they should open their marketplace to new jobs. On the same level, legalizing casino gaming, both live and electronic, for instance, can create jobs and generate tax revenues far greater than selling lotto tickets.

And it has pitfalls and problems that come with it that will require some investment in enforcement, but it will create more good than bad overall. Just like the lottery, casinos have to take people's money far more than giving it back in order to succeed as business ventures.

But there is a positive redistributive effect and the people who are giving up the money in gaming (in most all cases) will not be harmed by giving up the money and are prepared to do so for the opportunity to possibly win more or just to enjoy the risk of gambling.
 
I tend to disagree with my dad about things just such as this. I have no problem with an exploitative lottery (which I buy tickets for, occasionally), because people have a choice to play it or not.

The problem with WA is the general fund and lack of accountability. There should be a separate fund for education, and most of the Lotto revenue should go into it as originally promised.

Our biggest problem is transportation. Back in the 50s and 60s we built some amazing roads, bridges, floating bridges, tunnels, etc., and they were often funded with tolls, and they were frequently finished early (nice for toll payers) and below budget. Then in the 70s, the fucktards in Olympia began to shift their attention from building and maintaining roads/bridges to public transportation, and trying to get people out of their cars. Now our infrastructure is failing, and we have to pay through the nose.

Metro is a decent transportation service, minus all the shitty drivers who routinely blow through red lights and cause accidents and injuries, but now we have Lightrail. Olympia just axed the Metro transit to Seatac Airport, because Metro can get you there 15 min. quicker and at a vastly cheaper price, because it doesn't want Lightrail to have to compete. Pure genious, based on the premise that trains are good for you.
 
Damocles said:
Actually I found the ticket before it was on Pawn Stars. The one on Pawn stars was ticket 359 and was never sold. This particular ticket was sold as the matching number to the left is not attached.
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I saw that Pawn Stars episode, and a guy came in and authenticated the ticket. I forget how much he said it was worth, but I do know it was a nice chunk'a change.

They called it "the holy grail of lottery tickets."

Got me a lottery ticket on the Wisconsin Power Ball for tomorrow night. It's up to 57 million. Probably take home 30 million in a one time payment. I guess I could force myself to live on that... :D
 
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Damocles said:
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George Washington created the Mountain Road Lottery to finance the construction of Mountain Road, which opened westward expansion from Virginia.
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I wish it were that simple....but lotteries can be corrupt. Perfect example, my home state New York. Given the amount of money our daily lotteries draw in, there shouldn't be a school in the State of New York that isn't fully equipped and up to standards....instead, you have the governor and mayor contemplating closing schools, schools that are in terrible disrepair, schools without proper books, etc. Now, since the lottery was initially developed to supplement school funding, where is all that money going?
 
Taichiliberal said:
I wish it were that simple....but lotteries can be corrupt. Perfect example, my home state New York. Given the amount of money our daily lotteries draw in, there shouldn't be a school in the State of New York that isn't fully equipped and up to standards....instead, you have the governor and mayor contemplating closing schools, schools that are in terrible disrepair, schools without proper books, etc. Now, since the lottery was initially developed to supplement school funding, where is all that money going?
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Probably into the same toilet that they are flushed down in WA State.

:toilet:
 
Actually, even then, George's name on the ticket was a guarantee that the lottery was the real deal. Back then lotteries were seen as pretty low, many had pre-selected "winners". The name you got to sign it would generally tell people whether to trust the lottery.
 
Adam Weinberg said:
I am not against lotteries particularly or for moral reasons, but I am against the government coming in and starting a single state lottery. North Carolina only started their "Education Lottery" a few years ago and it was a really shady deal, both in terms of who the state contracted with to run it, how the legislature voted it in, and where the money has been going ultimately.

People went to jail, and yet the lottery is still around.

Generally, I find that a lottery is initiated to distract from the fact that the state has lost all fiscal accountability and simply wants more of our money.

If they want to collect more taxes, they should open their marketplace to new jobs. On the same level, legalizing casino gaming, both live and electronic, for instance, can create jobs and generate tax revenues far greater than selling lotto tickets.

And it has pitfalls and problems that come with it that will require some investment in enforcement, but it will create more good than bad overall. Just like the lottery, casinos have to take people's money far more than giving it back in order to succeed as business ventures.

But there is a positive redistributive effect and the people who are giving up the money in gaming (in most all cases) will not be harmed by giving up the money and are prepared to do so for the opportunity to possibly win more or just to enjoy the risk of gambling.
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You've obviously never known a real gambling addict.
 
Originally Posted by Taichiliberal
I wish it were that simple....but lotteries can be corrupt. Perfect example, my home state New York. Given the amount of money our daily lotteries draw in, there shouldn't be a school in the State of New York that isn't fully equipped and up to standards....instead, you have the governor and mayor contemplating closing schools, schools that are in terrible disrepair, schools without proper books, etc. Now, since the lottery was initially developed to supplement school funding, where is all that money going?
Click to expand...

Threedee said:
Probably into the same toilet that they are flushed down in WA State.

:toilet:
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Hmmm, I'm more inclined to check to see what public officials are taking yearly vacations in Tahiti or Belize.
 
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