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The last thing America needs from Trump's infrastructure plan is more roads

2 points by bandrami 10y ago

Neliquat 10y ago
Unpopular opinion: I live in rural USA. I sure would love a paved road. Living on a dirt road is an economic net negative for the community. My cars, mail trucks, etc. dont last as long, not to mention it has to be graded every time it rains hard. Some road improvement is absolutely worth it. However, I must admit, most roads go in at a loss. And without reguard for future cost of maint. It seems like there is a lot of good to do here but only if managed well. We can only hope the brightest offer their suggestions and effort, even to an administration they may dislike.
- smt88 10y ago
  It costs millions of dollars to build a mile of road[1]. Is it possible for damage to vehicles + inconvenience to make that cost worth it, especially considering you're probably talking about many miles of road ($100M+)? 1. http://blog.midwestind.com/cost-of-building-road/ http://blog.midwestind.com/cost-of-building-road/
- bandrami 10y ago
  The depressing conclusion of people like Charles Marohn[1] is hard to get around: if the full cost of living outside of major urban centers were actually being born by the people who lived there, very few people could afford to live outside of major urban centers. 1: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/9/the-real-reason-your-city-has-no-money https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/9/the-real-reason...
cody8295 10y ago
I stopped reading at "Not only should we not be building more roads, we shouldn’t necessarily be repairing the ones we have." I live in northwest Connecticut and I will not stand for this nonsense. Our roads are awful, and need to be repaired and. Unavoidable potholes, dangerous erosion, these are things that not only cause vehicular deaths but also severely decrease the lifetime of automobiles. You can tell whoever wrote this article probably doesn't commute in their own car that they have to repair every 6 months because of shitty roads.

2 points by bandrami 10y ago

Unpopular opinion: I live in rural USA. I sure would love a paved road. Living on a dirt road is an economic net negative for the community. My cars, mail trucks, etc. dont last as long, not to mention it has to be graded every time it rains hard. Some road improvement is absolutely worth it. However, I must admit, most roads go in at a loss. And without reguard for future cost of maint. It seems like there is a lot of good to do here but only if managed well. We can only hope the brightest offer their suggestions and effort, even to an administration they may dislike.

smt88 10y ago
It costs millions of dollars to build a mile of road[1]. Is it possible for damage to vehicles + inconvenience to make that cost worth it, especially considering you're probably talking about many miles of road ($100M+)? 1. http://blog.midwestind.com/cost-of-building-road/ http://blog.midwestind.com/cost-of-building-road/
bandrami 10y ago
The depressing conclusion of people like Charles Marohn[1] is hard to get around: if the full cost of living outside of major urban centers were actually being born by the people who lived there, very few people could afford to live outside of major urban centers. 1: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/9/the-real-reason-your-city-has-no-money https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/9/the-real-reason...

cody8295 10y ago

I stopped reading at "Not only should we not be building more roads, we shouldn’t necessarily be repairing the ones we have." I live in northwest Connecticut and I will not stand for this nonsense. Our roads are awful, and need to be repaired and. Unavoidable potholes, dangerous erosion, these are things that not only cause vehicular deaths but also severely decrease the lifetime of automobiles. You can tell whoever wrote this article probably doesn't commute in their own car that they have to repair every 6 months because of shitty roads.