Submitted by Tho Bishop via The Mises Institute,

At its best, Independence Day is a celebration of American secession and a testament to individual liberty. At its worst, Independence Day is still a day where government offices are closed, American grills are lit and the evening sky is full of fireworks, which is still pretty good (at least in my subjective value.)

Unfortunately the travel before and after the 4th of July is a different story, with it widely considered one of the worst travel days of the year. While the desire to take advantage of the holiday to enjoy friends and family is a natural product of humans being inherently social creatures, the degree to which this congestion leads to headache and misery rests solely with the institution responsible for them during the rest of the year – the government.
The Curse of Socialist Highways

The question “who will build the roads?” has become such a statist cliché that it’s perhaps the only libertarian internet meme bigger than “taxation is theft” and Ron Paul informing us that “it’s happening.” It has earned that designation because the entire idea of roads and highways has become so synonymous with government that even Joe McCarthy voted for this form of socialism.

Of course, the purpose for the current American interstate system had nothing to do with consumer demand and everything to do with military transportation throughout the country. While some may defend such a project on that basis, it shouldn’t be a surprise that interstates designed to transport tanks and weapons aren’t always the best at facilitating family travel.

As Walter Block has long argued, much of the congestion on these highways is a direct result of their being in the control of government and therefore being unable to have proper pricing. In his article Congestion and Road Pricing, Dr. Block rebuts various arguments defending public management of highways, as well as government-based solutions (such as automobile bans that were in vogue at the time). Block identifies how free market solutions would solve the problem of congestion, such as enabling “travel entrepreneurs” to design and fund higher-cost toll roads for travelers who don’t mind paying extra for a quicker drive. Not only would such a system obviously cut down the congestion for these “luxury drivers”, but their absence from more commonly used roads means less congestion for those who don’t use them…. read more here