How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost? • Hacker News Board

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#201

Post by hanniabu » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 6:47 AM UTC

dougweltman wrote: post #7

This does not address a larger question: how much does a mile of road cost to keep ? This is the installed base question. Consider the amount of road that has been built out in the US relative to the populations that road is serving. Maintenance and expansion is paid out mainly from state and local taxes. That's an enormous civilizational overhead the US contends with, not to mention the economic cost of a large port…

I think this is the real issue. I've witnessed that the problem is lack of maintenance on roads. Instead of taking care of issues as they arise, like patching cracks and small holes, they're left to just grow and spread and before you know it the entire road is garbage and needs to be repaved. If we took care of the roads they would last longer and over time would alleviate funds for other expenses. Not to mention that it seems work on pipes under the roads are never worked on until a few months after it's been repaved, which completely destroys a new road and throws all that money down the gutter.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#202

Post by quicklyfrozen » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 6:56 AM UTC

asdff wrote: post #187

burfog wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If there are winters, a road with zero traffic won't last 10 years. The weather does more damage than traffic for roads in the suburbs of the midwest and northeast.

A properly built road should last much longer than that. My street in a small town in MA hasn't been paved in over 10 years and is still fine. (The town does periodically seal cracks but that's a pretty cheap maintenance item.)

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#203

Post by bartread » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 7:05 AM UTC

Stevvo wrote: post #186

habosa wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In all of Europe, undertaking is illegal. When we come to the US, driving feels like you are in a third world country.

In the UK it's actually not illegal: it's just advised against, and considered bad form in most situations by most drivers. And, of course, if you cause an accident by undertaking the police will (rightly) throw the book at you.

Examples where it's considered acceptable to undertake:

- In heavier or queuing traffic inside lanes might move faster than outside lanes: this is OK, and it's considered better and safer to stay in lane than keep changing lanes to overtake.

- Motorcycles filtering through traffic, which generally occurs between the middle and outside lane on motorways. Where gaps are bigger motorcyclists will often move from the outside to middle lanes to get around slow moving vehicles in the outside lane. Again, this tends to apply when traffic is heavier.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#204

Post by samstave » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 7:06 AM UTC

Stevvo wrote: post #186

habosa wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In all of Europe, undertaking is illegal. When we come to the US, driving feels like you are in a third world country.

So many aspects about driving in the US are so terrible.

The road conditions are pretty bad, and what i would like to understand are the gas taxes and other taxes which ostensibly go into road infra.

We have high gas taxes and drive more miles than most countries on the planet - where is that money going?

Some countries have high vehicle costs and their roads to me seem pristine and perfect by comparison. Specifically in fresh memory is both Singapore and Hong Kong.

The condition of their roads just seem to be flawless.

In the US we even have potholes jokingly having birthdays thrown for them, gas prices include large per gallon taxes and road conditions never appear to improve - and yearly reports of “crumbling infrastructure” and “deteriorating dangerous bridges” keep coming out.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#205

Post by alpb » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 7:07 AM UTC

USA is definitely a high labor cost market. The throughput per unit time from each worker is probably much lower compared to developing countries. I am actually more interested in seeing highway cost/mi. stats for each developed and developing country. If anyone got links, I appreciate.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#206

Post by bartread » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 7:07 AM UTC

habosa wrote: post #178

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.

I'm not sure what it's like in Spain but, in France, if you hog the outside lane you will get flashed and beeped at. French drivers do not tolerate lane hogs at all and generally manifest excellent lane discipline: I wish the UK were more like that.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#207

Post by pentae » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 7:08 AM UTC

asdff wrote: post #179

cortesoft wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I wouldn't let it bother you too much.. For every prick like that theres another prick like myself who is willing to smash up their front bumper with the rear of my vehicle to make a point. Interestingly, they always cede your right of way when you don't hesitate.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#208

Post by _jal » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 7:09 AM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #30

Polylactic_acid wrote: post #20

I'm planning to live a car free life soon. I'll be moving in to the city so almost everything is within walking distance and just about everything is accessable via public transport. The only thing I haven't been able work out is how I will continue to go mtn biking since bikes aren't allowed on the bus. But I just can't justify the massive expense of owning a car and a car park for one activity.

I know lots of car free people in the city who just rent a car for weekend trips. Still cheaper than owning a car.

Also less stress.

I use Zipcar for random errands and rent one for overnight trips. Last year I think I spent around $1500 on cars, all in.

Zipcars are parked nearby, probably closer than I'd find a parking spot on average and basically always available. The rental place I use is 1/4 mile away. They know me by name. I never move a car for street cleaning, deal with a busted window, or pay tickets.

If you don't need one for work, or have mobility issues or kids, they're entirely optional and (at least to me) life is better without them.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#209

Post by erulabs » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 7:18 AM UTC

asdff wrote: post #179

cortesoft wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Oh man particularly from the 110 to the 5 south - that one lane change - there is _always_ one person go tries to skip the line and merge at the very end, only to get stuck, and cause a massive hangup. That line of cars is ~30 long, so 1 in 10 is perfectly high enough for it to be broken all the time.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#210

Post by nitrogen » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 7:25 AM UTC

stefan_ wrote: post #143

geddy wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of shade thrown towards people living in suburbia on here. Maybe not everyone wants to live in a (rented) closet sized apartment in a major city, complete with all the noise pollution, actual pollution, crime rates, and a lingering piss-smell 24/7, and all for the low price of _more than owning a house_?

I don't think anyone cares if you prefer to live rural, the problem is suburbanites having their yard, big house and pool, then every workday commuting into the city where they expect urban dwellers to subsidize the parking spot and eat all the death, destruction and pollution their hunks of metal bring along. It's like I'm happy to have the walkable grocery store and 24/7 piss smell, but when feeling adventurous dri…

they expect urban dwellers to subsidize the parking spot

I think most urban commuter parking is paid, whether public or private, and the expectation is that a city charges appropriate property taxes on commercial buildings to cover any costs imposed by commuters.