i didn't read why you think toll roads wouldn't be everywhere.
Oh sorry, it was actually in another thread, I got mixed up. Here it is
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=343866.msg3846210#msg3846210
and also, who builds the highways between towns/cities? the businesses too? so the amount they want to contribute is voluntary? someone's going to feel like a party is not paying their fair share, and there would be dischord. how would that get settled?
i don't get how you got to the "costs are so small compared to the profits they make." road maintenance is probably not cheap.
ancient tribal groups were anarchistic, and they killed/dominated each other until there was one ruler. great nations came as a result.
Highways between towns, assuming there is enough traffic to justify it, could be funded in various ways. Maybe the big transportation companies could do it to ensure their goods get where they want. Another example of profits exceeding maintenance costs. They could be funded by advertising. Or the big roads themselves could be some form of toll road if nothing else. These are just a few things that I can think of. I'm not in the business of roads so there is probably some idea that I am not even thinking of.
I think road maintenance is probably a lot cheaper without all the state bureaucracy costs. And the fact that it is a monopoly so let's face it, those road guys don't have to put too much effort in like any public service department.
I don't know about where you live but here they dig up perfectly good roads and repave them just to make sure they use their budget for the year so that the budget isn't cut the next year. This is what happens when you have perverse incentives.