The tollbooths that gobble up the loose change of American drivers as they sweep through bridges, tunnels and turnpikes ring up record profits every year. In 1966, toll-road traffic in the U.S. will increase by 10% over 1965, to 750 million vehicles. The new Verrazano-Narrows Bridge across the mouth of New York harbor earned $11 million in the year ending last July; in 1965, the six tunnels and bridges controlled by the Port of New York Authority grossed $64 million.

The New Jersey Turnpike has done well enough to pay for the early redemption of $136 million worth of its...