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> It's clear that if everyone only went to work half as much we'd only need to build half the roads and trains and airports. Not only is this not "clear", it's
by adwn 9y ago
> It's clear that if everyone only went to work half as much we'd only need to build half the roads and trains and airports.
Not only is this not "clear", it's also false. To connect two towns, you need 1 road. If everyone only went to work half as often, you still need 1 road – you can't have 0.5 roads. And if people work half as much, but only 4 hours per day, you wouldn't save anything.
Sure, with less utilization comes less need for maintainance, but not all wear and tear results from direct use.
- majewsky 9y ago> you can't have 0.5 roads Of course you can. Half a four-lane road is a two-lane road.
- adwn 9y agoMost roads are not four-lane ones. Think residential roads, for example.
- dragonwriter 9y agoOver time, most cost of a road is maintenance cost, not initial construction. While this probably isn't linear with use, it does scale with use, so that lower use means lower maintenance cost. The cost of a single lane road supporting current usage levels is not an individual less quantum unit of road cost.
- kerryfalk 9y agoCanada's rural roads (read: most of Canada's roads) are already mostly two-lane.
- lodi 9y agoHis point is fair though; just replace "road" with "railroad".