Jacksonville mayor comes out against new toll road

[JeffreyS]

^Like

[jcjohnpaint]

and I'm sure they don't want us to know this! 

[Dashing Dan]

35,000 to 75,000 anticipates that sprawl develops around the road as a result of its construction by opening virgin land up to development. 

true...forecasts in 2025 are much lower (20,000 to 60,000)....and that still assumes some developmenmt occurs between now and then

also keep in mind that the proponents will tell you this isn't the $2 Billion project....this part only costs $300 million

What they won't tell you is $300 million equals...

25 miles of newly constructed 2-lane roadways with 5' sidewalks, and curb & gutter...or

24 miles of expanding existing 4-lane roads to 6-lanes with 5' sidewalks, and curb & gutter...or

30 miles of newly constructed heritage streetcar lines....or

10 miles of skyway extensions....or

121 miles of milling and resurfacing existing 4-lane streets with 5' sidewalks, curb & gutter.....or

896 miles of newly constructed 12' wide multiuse paths throughout the region....or

1,334 miles of newly constructed 6' wide sidewalks....or

100 extra pedestrian/bike bridges over our complex network of wide arterial roadways that isolated multimodal connectivity between adjacent neighborhoods...

For any given amount of capacity, road construction is the most costly option.  The trouble with the other options is that capacity isn't the only factor that needs to be considered.  If it's a transit option you have to budget for annual operating expenses.  For all options you have to get people to use the capacity once it becomes available.   That's why development patterns are so important.

[thelakelander]

You also have to budget for roadway maintenance which costs significantly more than transit O&M. That's something else most fail to connect to the discussion.

[tufsu1]

You also have to budget for roadway maintenance which costs significantly more than transit O&M.

not quite true...the government (or publicly funded) maintenance costs for roads are cheaper than for most transit systems...and generally get better usage.

the part of the equation that's missing is that with transit, government pays much of the fuel and insurance costs (with some recoup in fares)....with roads, users (drivers) pay most of those costs.