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How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

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Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#171

Post by cortesoft »

slowhand09 wrote: post #57

I think of this as I drive 30ish miles each way to work. 5 miles of surface roads, 19 miles of interstate (2 lanes each way), and 6 miles of surface (2 lanes each way). One cause for increased construction is the need for more capacity. My frequent lament is poor driving habits. We have regular instances of sub-optimal speeds in both lanes. A 65 mph limit and vehicles driving 55mph in both lanes, frequently with 1/4…

Where I live (Los Angeles), all the lanes are filled all the time. There is no passing lane, so it doesn’t matter which lane you drive in. The skill that is important for drivers to have is the zipper merge, because those are happening all the time as fully utilized lanes merge and split.

I am actually usually pretty impressed with LA drivers. Most respect the zipper merge.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#172

Post by THE_PUN_STOPS »

wahern wrote: post #141
dmurray wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed while driving in the US that American highway exits seem to be designed differently than those in the UK. The rightmost lane of three-lane highways will often become the exit lane, so if you stick to the rightmost lane you'll frequently need to switch lanes to your left to stay on the road. In the UK, in contrast, the exit lane is usually the new lane, and you have to switch lanes to get into it. So inst…

That depends on the region and age of the road. In more rural areas where the freeways are newer things are much more consistent and usually just as you'd expect. In older areas like New York or California where many of the freeways predate the Federal Interstate system, and where lane expansions, lane extensions, and exits have grown far more organically, there are inconsistent designs (although often consistent wit…

>California's scheme predated the Federal Interstate system and they weren't keen on changing it.

Massachusetts is about to embark on a project to renumber all of their exits per federal mandate. The consensus is that the only way they can take "exit 17"[1] from us is by lasering it out of our brains. I know people who are planning a guerilla renumbering campaign for this sign after it is harmonized.

[1]: https://i.imgur.com/3X8gIOf.jpg

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#173

Post by nitrogen »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #154
rahimnathwani wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"is the equivalent of the advice here to stay to the right" Yeah, but the advice in the California DMV handbook is to stay in the middle , not the right. The difference is that, in the UK, the middle lane is explicitly only for overtaking. If you're going the same speed as the cars in the left lane, you're not overtaking, so you shouldn't be in the middle lane. California's guidance is directly contrary to this.

In the US there is no priority with 3+ lanes. You can legally plod along in the left lane without passing anyone. The middle is a safe option to avoid conflicts on either side. For two lanes you are supposed to leave the left/high-speed lane for passing only.

That really depends on the state. In Utah, for example, the law requires left lane drivers to move over if they are being passed on the right. Some other states explicitly designate the left lane for passing only.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#174

Post by rahimnathwani »

cortesoft wrote: post #167
rahimnathwani wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The right lane always has people merging, either to enter or exit, or trucks lumbering along at 45." Interesting perspective. I feel a little differently: - cars meeting to enter shouldn't affect you, because it's their responsibility to get to the right speed and time their entry to a gap; an entering car should never cause you to need to change speed or direction - an exiting car shouldn't affect you, because ther…

What is this ‘gap’ you speak of? We don’t have those here in LA.

You need a gap between cars to stop them colliding due to speed variation. I've heard that all cars on LA roads go at the same 0mph, so I guess you don't need a gap.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#175

Post by projektfu »

burfog wrote: post #32
ryanar wrote: post #2

I feel like I am missing something here, a mile of road in a rural area costs $1,500,000 to reconstruct? How do small towns afford to maintain their roads?? Perhaps there are many costs that don't inflate as the number of miles increases, like the equipment needed to break down and repave the roads?

With property lines being about 100 feet apart, that comes to 100 houses. It's just $15,000 per house. The road should last 50 years without heavy truck traffic, making it $3000 per year per house.

You’re not discounting properly. It’s more like $500-600 per year because of the time value of money and inflation. Replacement costs are $300 this year, but initial construction is $500 this year because it’s on a bond. Maintenance isn’t included. The surface isn’t really going to last 50 years without looking like Fallout 2. So tack on another hundred.

All of this becomes expensive for single family homes to support. The revenue per area is just so low.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#176

Post by hamilyon2 »

I was always puzzled by how do English-speaking folk communicate such matter clearly? I mean the word "cost". It has two meanings: basically all expenditure that is associated with something or it might mean agreed upon price of product.

That was interesting data set, and here by "cost" I guess "price" is meant.

How much margin/profits is included in it?

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#177

Post by asdff »

hamilyon2 wrote: post #176

I was always puzzled by how do English-speaking folk communicate such matter clearly? I mean the word "cost". It has two meanings: basically all expenditure that is associated with something or it might mean agreed upon price of product. That was interesting data set, and here by "cost" I guess "price" is meant. How much margin/profits is included in it?

> How much margin/profits is included in it?

That's where it starts getting dubious. Technically, all roads and transit are built at a great loss on paper. However, connecting locations connects people and enables economic activity, so there is definitely a 'profit' per se but it would be difficult to quantify precisely.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#178

Post by habosa »

slowhand09 wrote: post #57

I think of this as I drive 30ish miles each way to work. 5 miles of surface roads, 19 miles of interstate (2 lanes each way), and 6 miles of surface (2 lanes each way). One cause for increased construction is the need for more capacity. My frequent lament is poor driving habits. We have regular instances of sub-optimal speeds in both lanes. A 65 mph limit and vehicles driving 55mph in both lanes, frequently with 1/4…

I recently drove around Spain for 2 weeks. My first significant international driving experience. I was shocked at how seriously they took the rule of only passing on the left. Every single car in the right line was driving slower than every single car in the left.

It made driving so much better. The behavior of every car was basically predictable. I've never seen anyone pay much attention to their lane here.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#179

Post by asdff »

cortesoft wrote: post #171
slowhand09 wrote: post #57

I think of this as I drive 30ish miles each way to work. 5 miles of surface roads, 19 miles of interstate (2 lanes each way), and 6 miles of surface (2 lanes each way). One cause for increased construction is the need for more capacity. My frequent lament is poor driving habits. We have regular instances of sub-optimal speeds in both lanes. A 65 mph limit and vehicles driving 55mph in both lanes, frequently with 1/4…

Where I live (Los Angeles), all the lanes are filled all the time. There is no passing lane, so it doesn’t matter which lane you drive in. The skill that is important for drivers to have is the zipper merge, because those are happening all the time as fully utilized lanes merge and split. I am actually usually pretty impressed with LA drivers. Most respect the zipper merge.

>Most respect the zipper merge.

Most. Maybe 1/10 are that prick that believes you merging in front of them is an affront to their pride, and opts to block you from entering or exiting the freeway. I see this most on the 10, but also on the 110 going from pasadena to downtown when you have to merge over 3 lanes to stay on the freeway then merge back 3 lanes to get on the 10 west.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#180

Post by guynamedloren »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #87

Is there a Primer / tldr for Strong Towns? I kind of get the basic idea (maintaining town infrastructure sometimes exceeds revenue) but I was looking for "start here" but don't seem to be able to find it

https://www.strongtowns.org/newcomers
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