I was in Brazil last month and have to say that I was absolutely stunned at how horrible the public road conditions were, pretty much no matter where I was. There were bumps, cracks, and crater sized pot holes almost on every street. This was a real awakening for me, since living in the suburbs of a nice town in the USA has really limited my knowledge and understanding of how things are in other parts of the world. It’s one thing to read about them and another to actually live them or experience them.
After a few days of driving on these roads, I was very eager to see what it was like to drive on their private roads, since I had heard that they were much better. I was absolutely floored at how different their private roads were, once I finally drove on them. We aren’t talking just a little better, we are talking night and day. I couldn’t believe the noticeable differences. Thinking back on these roads, I never forget the one night when I was driving back from Sao Paulo and it was raining very heavily. I felt much safer driving on that road at that point in time then I have driving on even the nicer public roads in the US on a sunny day. The painted lines were clear as day, the reflectors lit up like lights on a Christmas tree, so you could see everything on the road. You know how sometimes on our public highways you will drive over those thin annoying gaps every 20ft or so? Non existant on private roads in Brazil. The only pitfall to driving on these roads is their high tolls, which you will pay almost every half hour or so. Now, I don’t know how much it costs to maintain these roads and everything else that goes into it, so I won’t comment further on that. I just wouldn’t be surprised to find out that it is necessary to charge what they do in order to keep the roads in the shape that they are in.
Anyway, I hope I was able to give a little insite on the situation and hopefully give someone something to talk about if they ever get into this sort of debate when arguing public vs private goods and services. This experience will be in my back pocket every time.
Oh, and I just wanted to add one more thing; there are stop signs in Brazil but no one uses them. That took some getting used to but its amazing how quickly I adjusted and realized… it works!