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> an absolutely mind-boggling amount of infrastructure investment You mean like roads?
by z3ugma 3y ago
> an absolutely mind-boggling amount of infrastructure investment
You mean like roads?
- kulahan 3y agoYou mean those things we already have and already paid for? Yes. Like those.
- foxyv 3y agoYes, the ones that are falling apart and collapsing as we speak. The question is, would we rather continue investing in maintaining and expanding roads which have bankrupted our cities, or would we rather build something different. https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2023/2/28/odot-proposes-that-commuters-pay-6002200-per-year-for-highway-expansion https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2023/2/28/odot-proposes-...
- kulahan 3y agoWe would rather spend a small amount of money maintaining an existing system which supports all dynamic transit systems than throwing them out and using a much more static system. This seems really obvious. Cities aren't bankrupted by roads, roads are what give cities lifelines. Trains and buses are an incredibly poor substitute in all but the densest of regions.
- foxyv 3y agoRoads do provide an economic good. However, having every single individual drive a multi ton vehicle in order to pick up a bag of onions from a supermarket with a 15 acre parking lot doesn't make sense. https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/1/26/roads-and-debt https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/1/26/roads-and-debt > Trains and buses are an incredibly poor substitute in all but the densest of regions. This is patently wrong. Buses, trams and trains are the most efficient, safe and affordable forms of transportation known to man. They are superior on every metric I can think of. Combined with last mile micro-mobility and you just can't build a better transportation system. Cars take up more space, kill more people, destroy more land, kill wildlife, and pollute the air. Worse, they are slower due to traffic.
- mwint 3y agoRoads are stupid cheap compared to a certain Californian light rail project.
- foxyv 3y agoCalifornia spends about $200,000 per mile of highway every year. That comes to about $53.6 billion dollars a year just to maintain those highways. That doesn't even count the capital costs of new projects. That doesn't count the $55 billion dollars in medical bills for people injured in accidents. The billions of dollars that people pay for health care required to treat diseases caused by pollution. The cost in lives, time, and crippling injuries is immense. What do we get for it? Being stuck on the 91 choking on the exhaust.
- dragonwriter 3y ago> Roads are stupid cheap compared to a certain Californian light rail project. What California light rail project are you thinking of?
- foxyv 3y agoI think they meant the overly ambitious High Speed Rail project from Los Angeles to Northern California. That is the usual talking point.