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Fuel taxes are a huge moneymaker for the states; with far more being taken in taxes than is spent on roads. Whether that money makes its way to cities, or exac

Fuel taxes are a huge moneymaker for the states; with far more being taken in taxes than is spent on roads. Whether that money makes its way to cities, or exactly how it is split up, is no doubt a very complex question.

natrius 17y ago
Citation? My recollection is the opposite. Most state and federal highways here in Texas require local matching funds on top of any gas tax money. "No road that we built in Texas paid for itself." - http://www.austincontrarian.com/austincontrarian/2009/11/again-texas-roads-dont-pay-for-themselves.html http://www.austincontrarian.com/austincontrarian/2009/11/aga...
- patrickgzill 17y ago
  Stop and think about the statement/article you quoted. Figure a 10 mile stretch of road is built. A suburban householder drives the length of it when commuting in a 30 mpg (most cars get less mpg) car, 200 times a year at a minimum (this doesn't even include trips to grocery store, spouse's car, etc.). Yearly, 2000 miles traveled, about 70 gallons of fuel used by the 30mpg car, means $14.00 in fuel taxes (TX gets 20 cents/gallon in taxes), or, $1.40 per mile; each year. Definitely a far cry from the "2-3 cents" quoted in the article. Is my math off?
  - natrius 17y ago
    Your units are off. You're calculating dollars per mile per year. The article talks about dollars per mile, which could be an imprecise way of talking about dollars per mile per year, but taking the words at face value gives about 1 cent per mile at 20 mpg, the Department of Transportation's average fuel economy as of 2005. If you include the federal 18.4 cent tax, you get 1.92 cents per mile.
    - patrickgzill 17y ago
      I think both our units are off. If the units represent 20-30 cents per car per mile traveled, then my question is, what manner of gold and silver is used in constructing Texas roads?
      - natrius 17y ago
        Let's work with an actual example, the expansion of Interstate 10 in Katy, TX. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5450155.html http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5450155.htm... Estimated cost: $2.8 billion Traffic: 207,000 per day (http://www.katyfreeway.org/background.html http://www.katyfreeway.org/background.html) Length: 22 miles Cost per mile per daily trip: $614.84 If we're paying it off over 20 years, that's 8.4 cents per mile driven. This doesn't include any necessary maintenance over those 20 years. I doubt the 20-30 cents figure is wrong. The person who was quoted was an elected official who dealt with a lot of transportation issues.
        Retric 17y ago
        That's also close to a best case example, the average road in the US is far less traveled.

natrius 17y ago

Citation? My recollection is the opposite. Most state and federal highways here in Texas require local matching funds on top of any gas tax money. "No road that we built in Texas paid for itself." - http://www.austincontrarian.com/austincontrarian/2009/11/again-texas-roads-dont-pay-for-themselves.html http://www.austincontrarian.com/austincontrarian/2009/11/aga...

patrickgzill 17y ago
Stop and think about the statement/article you quoted. Figure a 10 mile stretch of road is built. A suburban householder drives the length of it when commuting in a 30 mpg (most cars get less mpg) car, 200 times a year at a minimum (this doesn't even include trips to grocery store, spouse's car, etc.). Yearly, 2000 miles traveled, about 70 gallons of fuel used by the 30mpg car, means $14.00 in fuel taxes (TX gets 20 cents/gallon in taxes), or, $1.40 per mile; each year. Definitely a far cry from the "2-3 cents" quoted in the article. Is my math off?
- natrius 17y ago
  Your units are off. You're calculating dollars per mile per year. The article talks about dollars per mile, which could be an imprecise way of talking about dollars per mile per year, but taking the words at face value gives about 1 cent per mile at 20 mpg, the Department of Transportation's average fuel economy as of 2005. If you include the federal 18.4 cent tax, you get 1.92 cents per mile.
  - patrickgzill 17y ago
    I think both our units are off. If the units represent 20-30 cents per car per mile traveled, then my question is, what manner of gold and silver is used in constructing Texas roads?
    - natrius 17y ago
      Let's work with an actual example, the expansion of Interstate 10 in Katy, TX. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5450155.html http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5450155.htm... Estimated cost: $2.8 billion Traffic: 207,000 per day (http://www.katyfreeway.org/background.html http://www.katyfreeway.org/background.html) Length: 22 miles Cost per mile per daily trip: $614.84 If we're paying it off over 20 years, that's 8.4 cents per mile driven. This doesn't include any necessary maintenance over those 20 years. I doubt the 20-30 cents figure is wrong. The person who was quoted was an elected official who dealt with a lot of transportation issues.
      - Retric 17y ago
        That's also close to a best case example, the average road in the US is far less traveled.