They are not free. They are just baked into our taxes. I hate toll bridges. They just seem to break the flow of traffic. I’d rather pay a little more in taxes to get rid of toll roads and bridges
Toll roads are meant to control traffic congestion. Florida has many of them because tourist flood the state driving on their highways. This generates revenues from tourist instead of only from Floridians, while influencing traffic at the same time. NYC tried to do that for traffic congestion in Manhattan. They wanted revenues from New Jersey drivers who go to Manhattan. Toll roads can be good for truckers hauling freight, as less congestion means making time and safer.