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Yeah I dont believe you. Theres no way fixing potholes every few years, which is 99% of road maintenance, is more expensive than building a whole new road.

by aydyn 3y ago

dijit 3y ago
Eh, you massively underestimate road maintenance if you think its just a few potholes every now and again. https://www.governing.com/now/the-u-s-needs-to-fix-existing-roads-not-build-new-ones https://www.governing.com/now/the-u-s-needs-to-fix-existing-... Some information from Aukland specifically because details are hard to find on my phone for the US; https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2013/05/26/roads-arent-cheap-to-run/ https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2013/05/26/roads-arent-ch... https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/08/01/escalating-costs-building-roads/ https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/08/01/escalating-cos...
- aydyn 3y ago
  Those links dont support your claim that building a road is cheaper than maintaining it.
  - dijit 3y ago
    Yes they do. Roads last longer than 1 year. Heck the annual budget for maintenance matches the current spend of building new roads on a yearly basis now: https://archive.curbed.com/2019/5/14/18622511/construction-highway-roads-infrastructure-week https://archive.curbed.com/2019/5/14/18622511/construction-h... The main issue here is that even if you take current spending into consideration, it's not really equivalent because roads are not being repaired at a required rate currently; they're being underinvested in and permitted to fall into worse conditions.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- johnnyworker 3y ago
  Nobody said it's cheap, they said it's cheaper to maintain them than to build them. > The average cost to operate, maintain and periodically renew 1km of urban road in Auckland is approximately $60,000 per year. https://blog.midwestind.com/cost-of-building-road/ https://blog.midwestind.com/cost-of-building-road/ > constructing a two-lane, undivided road in a rural locale will set you back somewhere between $2 and $3 million per mile — in urban areas, that number jumps to between $3 and $5 million And then you still have to maintain it.

Yeah I dont believe you. Theres no way fixing potholes every few years, which is 99% of road maintenance, is more expensive than building a whole new road.

by aydyn 3y ago

Yeah I dont believe you. Theres no way fixing potholes every few years, which is 99% of road maintenance, is more expensive than building a whole new road.

dijit 3y ago

Eh, you massively underestimate road maintenance if you think its just a few potholes every now and again. https://www.governing.com/now/the-u-s-needs-to-fix-existing-roads-not-build-new-ones https://www.governing.com/now/the-u-s-needs-to-fix-existing-... Some information from Aukland specifically because details are hard to find on my phone for the US; https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2013/05/26/roads-arent-cheap-to-run/ https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2013/05/26/roads-arent-ch... https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/08/01/escalating-costs-building-roads/ https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/08/01/escalating-cos...

aydyn 3y ago
Those links dont support your claim that building a road is cheaper than maintaining it.
- dijit 3y ago
  Yes they do. Roads last longer than 1 year. Heck the annual budget for maintenance matches the current spend of building new roads on a yearly basis now: https://archive.curbed.com/2019/5/14/18622511/construction-highway-roads-infrastructure-week https://archive.curbed.com/2019/5/14/18622511/construction-h... The main issue here is that even if you take current spending into consideration, it's not really equivalent because roads are not being repaired at a required rate currently; they're being underinvested in and permitted to fall into worse conditions.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
johnnyworker 3y ago
Nobody said it's cheap, they said it's cheaper to maintain them than to build them. > The average cost to operate, maintain and periodically renew 1km of urban road in Auckland is approximately $60,000 per year. https://blog.midwestind.com/cost-of-building-road/ https://blog.midwestind.com/cost-of-building-road/ > constructing a two-lane, undivided road in a rural locale will set you back somewhere between $2 and $3 million per mile — in urban areas, that number jumps to between $3 and $5 million And then you still have to maintain it.