2 ms·

Gas taxes and toll revenue account for about 1/3 of road infrastructure spend these days. This is significantly less than years past as the fixed gas tax hasn'

Gas taxes and toll revenue account for about 1/3 of road infrastructure spend these days. This is significantly less than years past as the fixed gas tax hasn't kept up with inflation or adjusted upwards enough to match efficiency gains.

bryanlarsen 2y ago
I was careful to say "city road & street" because those aren't generally subsidized by gas taxes, usually only inter-city roads and highways are.
- bombcar 2y ago
  The street in front of a house is often installed by the developer of the neighborhood, maintenance provided by the city or county. But bigger roads in and out of town often have federal and state co-payments when built, depending on what and where they are. Bridge replacements, for example, often involve federal funds.
- colechristensen 2y ago
  And still, you're incorrect. My state gathers money for a highway fund from gas taxes, vehicle registrations, vehicle sales taxes, etc. They have a program called "Municipal State Aid Street" where they reallocate some highway funds for city and rural streets. There's even a map. [1] I'm quite sure that everywhere has some similar program. There's this public transit chauvinist myth that roads are, "100% subsidized" as you say, and it's wrong. Stop making things up or just accepting vague collective wisdom. Roads are paid for in significant portions by road users. Not 100% because that would be an undue burden on the poor. Trains, despite being crazy expensive and heavily subsidized, are more expensive to use than owning a car for a lot of people or they are enormous money sinks that are paid by non-users. They can be incredibly useful and a worthwhile investment, but I've definitely run the numbers in the past and found the train to be more expensive and much more unpleasant than driving (for me it was a Caltrain+BART commute). 1. https://mndot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=34f8913831b94d3c94b675298e6fa18d https://mndot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?i...

bryanlarsen 2y ago

I was careful to say "city road & street" because those aren't generally subsidized by gas taxes, usually only inter-city roads and highways are.

bombcar 2y ago
The street in front of a house is often installed by the developer of the neighborhood, maintenance provided by the city or county. But bigger roads in and out of town often have federal and state co-payments when built, depending on what and where they are. Bridge replacements, for example, often involve federal funds.
colechristensen 2y ago
And still, you're incorrect. My state gathers money for a highway fund from gas taxes, vehicle registrations, vehicle sales taxes, etc. They have a program called "Municipal State Aid Street" where they reallocate some highway funds for city and rural streets. There's even a map. [1] I'm quite sure that everywhere has some similar program. There's this public transit chauvinist myth that roads are, "100% subsidized" as you say, and it's wrong. Stop making things up or just accepting vague collective wisdom. Roads are paid for in significant portions by road users. Not 100% because that would be an undue burden on the poor. Trains, despite being crazy expensive and heavily subsidized, are more expensive to use than owning a car for a lot of people or they are enormous money sinks that are paid by non-users. They can be incredibly useful and a worthwhile investment, but I've definitely run the numbers in the past and found the train to be more expensive and much more unpleasant than driving (for me it was a Caltrain+BART commute). 1. https://mndot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=34f8913831b94d3c94b675298e6fa18d https://mndot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?i...