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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?

#31

Post by jzwinck »

burlesona wrote: post #10
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?

You're not missing something: they can't afford it, which is why roads are increasingly in poor condition. The trick is, communities can usually get outside subsidy (state and federal) for _expansion_ projects. So when the road breaks down and they don't have local money to fix it, one of the strategies is to go to the higher level government for an "economic development" project to get outside money to pay for the r…

Thereby doubling the cost next time repaving is needed. Oh well, just double the lanes each time the road wears out. In a few generations the problem will go away.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#32

Post by burfog »

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.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#33

Post by Polylactic_acid »

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.

That actually sounds like a really good idea for camping trips and such.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#34

Post by vkou »

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?

> How do small towns afford to maintain their roads?

They make developers build them on the developer's dime, and then the roads don't need maintenance for a decade.

As long as your suburb keeps growing, the pain of maintaining decade-old roads can be offset by the increase in your tax base.

Once your suburb stops growing, you find yourself a mile down crap creek with no shovel.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#35

Post by Retric »

davideous wrote: post #9
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?

My small town resurfaced (grinding and re-paving) 5/12ths of a mile for about $100,000. That's about $240,000 per mile. Or actually $120,000 per "lane-mile". However, we could only afford it because we got a grant from the state. Our annual town budget could not afford the road maintenance.

That’s not that expensive, as long as it’s a planned expense.

An acre of land which is large for a town is 43,560 square feet or 208’ x 208’ though you can get significantly narrower along a road. A mile is 5280’ so ballpark that’s 25 per side or 50 properties = 4,800$ per property every say 20 years or 240$ per year.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#36

Post by topspin »

dillonmckay wrote: post #16
davideous wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My small town resurfaced (grinding and re-paving) 5/12ths of a mile for about $100,000. That's about $240,000 per mile. Or actually $120,000 per "lane-mile". However, we could only afford it because we got a grant from the state. Our annual town budget could not afford the road maintenance.

What is your town’s population size? Do you experience freezing temperatures?

Those numbers are inline with my development where we maintain .9 miles of private road with HOA dues; the quotes we've received all orbit around $250-300k for the last several years. Yes we have hard winters.

What we don't have is frequent heavy vehicles at speed. The state actually bans certain types of commercial vehicles on specific roads in the spring when road beds are soft.

The figures cited in this story seem high. Or maybe they're normal in Illinois or some other state where costs are extraordinary. Their not in line with what I see.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#37

Post by nickik »

wiredfool wrote: post #17
oneplane wrote: post #8

I wonder what the numbers are like in west EU as a comparison.

That would be an interesting question. My experience is that there's a lot more chip seal on smaller roads as a refurbishment (tar + a thin layer of gravel) rather than hot asphalt paving. It's a lot cheaper, but doesn't last as long. Motorways in France and Germany seem to be repaved more often, and billiard table smooth in a lot of cases.

France has private-ish roads that are quite expensive. So does italy, there you have to often literally pay a human everytime you get of the highway. This leads to many people driving on small roads, polluting and wearing down those roads.

Not sure about Germany, but they just have a super strong car lobby in general, and its one of their national pride things, so they tend to find money for that.

Here in Switzerland we have a very high gas price, but that leads to many people going for gas outside of Switzerland and we have no idea what to do when EVy really take off. The true cost of those roads is hidden in the 'normality' of the high gas prices.

Roads are a tricky problem, not just for libertarians.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#38

Post by dillonmckay »

topspin wrote: post #36
dillonmckay wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your town’s population size? Do you experience freezing temperatures?

Those numbers are inline with my development where we maintain .9 miles of private road with HOA dues; the quotes we've received all orbit around $250-300k for the last several years. Yes we have hard winters. What we don't have is frequent heavy vehicles at speed. The state actually bans certain types of commercial vehicles on specific roads in the spring when road beds are soft. The figures cited in this story seem…

Are you replying to a different comment?

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#39

Post by wtallis »

jzwinck wrote: post #31
burlesona wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not missing something: they can't afford it, which is why roads are increasingly in poor condition. The trick is, communities can usually get outside subsidy (state and federal) for _expansion_ projects. So when the road breaks down and they don't have local money to fix it, one of the strategies is to go to the higher level government for an "economic development" project to get outside money to pay for the r…

Thereby doubling the cost next time repaving is needed. Oh well, just double the lanes each time the road wears out. In a few generations the problem will go away.

I can see it playing out as one or two subsidized rounds of widening, and then a subsidy to "modernize" to fewer lanes, but with on-street parking or bike lanes or something like that.

Re: How Much Does a Mile of Road Cost?

#40

Post by mumblemumble »

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.

Mountain biking is one of the things I gave up when I moved to the city.

I thought that maybe I'd occasionally rent a car and drive out to a state park, but what I quickly discovered was that, once driving stopped being a part of my daily life, the idea of regularly driving out to a forest preserve lost its palatability. Largely because I am no longer inured to driving, so any plan for how to spend my leisure time that involves devoting a significant percentage of it to being stuck behind the wheel on a freeway is kind of a non-starter. So instead I road bike 4 seasons and take a few camping trips per year. So far it's working for me. Less time stuck in a car and more time out walking in my neighborhood means I have a greatly reduced need for things like mountain biking to help me unwind in the first place.

That said, I think that when I originally calculated it out, I figured out that renting a car 4-5 days a month was still cheaper than owning an inexpensive car. And not too much of a hassle in most cities - out of 4 urban addresses I've lived at, only one wasn't close to a car rental office, and even then it was only about 15 minutes by bus.

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