MATH GEEK WANTED!

[Ocklawaha]

Hey y'all, I've been working on an idea that could have the effect of shutting down much of the argument from people like Randal O'Toole and his highway lobby buddies, that regularly attack anything rail in public

I can add 1+1 and do the basics, but this might require some fancy math and some research into the numbers... If you think your up to the challenge, please respond and we'll get this moving forward. The results might be different then I think, but I bet they are shocking.

I'll post more detail tomorrow,, there are NO TRICK QUESTIONS, here, just some tricky ways to interpert the data and get it on paper for the world to see. I'd hate my sloppiness to blow this argument before it starts. So PLEASE step up and lets do this.


OCKLAWAHA

[Captain Zissou]

I'm a pretty big fan of math.  I can hopefully help you with whatever you need. As long as you're not trying to do this

[Ocklawaha]

Thanks Captain, this will involve a bit of research, but what is your (or anyone else that wants to join in) opinion of the best way to calculate how many vehicles pass any given point on a road in America on a given day? How many people are in those vehicles? How many lane miles of road are there, including ALL roads, gravel, improved, paved, etc...? How much did those lane-miles (one lane - one mile long) costs? How much does it cost to maintain one lane-mile per year?

Once we can fix a cost, and usage, then we can stand these numbers against the average Amtrak train. I'm willing to bet the numbers will be interesting.

For base data see:
http://www.transtats.bts.gov/databases.asp?Mode_ID=3&Mode_Desc=Highway&Subject_ID2=0

OCKLAWAHA

[PeeJayEss]

Thanks Captain, this will involve a bit of research, but what is your (or anyone else that wants to join in) opinion of the best way to calculate how many vehicles pass any given point on a road in America on a given day? How many people are in those vehicles? How many lane miles of road are there, including ALL roads, gravel, improved, paved, etc...? How much did those lane-miles (one lane - one mile long) costs? How much does it cost to maintain one lane-mile per year?

For any local road that has been constructed or studied for reconstruction, there should be traffic counts and pretty thorough trip generation projections available. For highways and interstates (anything under the US DOT), pretty thorough statistics are kept for usage, vehicle occupancy, even average mpg of vehicles on the road. You can also likely find literature that provides adjustment factors for these statistics based on time of day/year, etc.
Highway Statistics: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/hss/hsspubs.cfm

Lane-miles, via your RITA link: http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_01_06.html

Cost to maintain should be pretty easy. Cost to construct might get a little more exciting, given the different types of roads and the different dates/locations of construction, etc.

I think the numbers that come out will be remarkable.

[PeeJayEss]

Also, some nicely presented 2007 stats: http://css.snre.umich.edu/css_doc/CSS01-07.pdf