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Does anyone have comprehensive information on typical transportation department budgets in the US vs. some of these countries? Anecdotally I had a civil engine
by sparrc 8y ago
Does anyone have comprehensive information on typical transportation department budgets in the US vs. some of these countries?
Anecdotally I had a civil engineer friend from Spain who always told me that the transportation budgets in the USA were tiny compared to in Europe.
It'd be great if it was politically feasible for the US government to take some money from the military and put it into ambitious public transportation infrastructure. National rail probably doesn't make sense but there are definitely regional and city systems that need some serious help.
- kalleboo 8y agoOne problem is that even if they spent as much, infrastructure construction costs in the US are way higher than elsewhere: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction-costs.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-...
- jandrese 8y agoRail projects have a lot of political pushback in the US. They're expected to pay for themselves and realistically rarely manage to do so. They tend to be costed compared to cars, and somehow the cost of building and maintaining the roads is not included in that comparison, except for the relatively small fraction that comes from the gas tax. So rail projects somehow never look economically viable compared to a magically free road system.