I would make several quick points here, some of which reflect what he and Milton Friedman have said:
1. It's theoretically possible that U.S. motorists actually pay MORE for their use of the highway system than it really costs to accommodate them. It's not easy to figure this out because the method of financing this infrastructure is more deficient than the amount of money that is collected through taxes and user fees (tolls).
2. Related to the previous point, the best description I've ever heard about the dysfunctional nature of financing our highway system was from someone in a D.C. think tank who likened our fuel tax system to a prepaid all-you-can-eat buffet on a cruise ship. The cruise line operator doesn't care about the quality of the food they serve because the customers have already paid for it up front, and the customers have no financial constraint on how much they eat for the same reason. The end result is that the customer gets crappy food, and eats too much of it anyway. This is a perfect comparison to a congested highway.
3. I find the idea of operating public roads as utilities intriguing -- and it would probably work much better this way for all the reasons the author describes. My one overriding condition would be that the public utilities that operate these roads should first be obligated to buy them from the states and refund the taxpayers whose government used its eminent domain authority to take possession of the rights-of-way in the first place.
>> The end result is that the customer gets crappy food, and eats too much of it anyway. This is a perfect comparison to a congested highway.
Surface streets are also ill maintained and clogged by congestion.
Should we turn surface roadways into toll roads as well?
At a point, there is no right of passage anywhere.