Monday, April 23, 2012

Think Drivers Pay the Cost of Roads? | Barataria – The work of Erik Hare

Think Drivers Pay the Cost of Roads? | Barataria – The work of Erik Hare: "Clearly, somebody besides the driver is paying for Minnesota’s roads. Drivers-through gasoline taxes, car registration fees and sales taxes on vehicles-actually pay only 62 percent of the costs of roads. General taxpayers “subsidize” the rest, no matter how much or little they drive."

Monday, April 16, 2012

The True Cost of Unwalkable Streets - Commute - The Atlantic Cities

The True Cost of Unwalkable Streets - Commute - The Atlantic Cities: "Perhaps the single most alarming public health trend in the United States today is the dramatic rise in the number of people who are overweight and obese, bringing serious risks of heart disease, diabetes and other consequences leading to life impairment and premature death. This is bad enough as it is, but I contend that it is particularly unfortunate that we do not sufficiently recognize the extent to which these trends are caused by environmental factors, particularly the shape of our built environment."

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The cost of urban freeways | Better! Cities & Towns Online

The cost of urban freeways | Better! Cities & Towns Online: "Steve Mouzon of Original Green posted an illuminating blog on the destruction of real estate values adjacent to urban limited-access highways.

Mouzon argues that reduced real estate values could exceed a trillion dollars — double of the cost of the entire Interstate system."

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A parking space initial direct cost: 10 to 100 thousand dollars.

There's No Such Thing As Free Parking | ThinkProgress: "In many locations, it comes down to the cost of land. An acre of land only parks around 120 cars. So, where an acre is worth $1.2 million, the cost of the land is $10,000 per space. Parking garages would seem to be a smart choice where land is expensive, because the cars are being stacked. However the construction is expensive and the higher up you go, the larger the steel members have to be.
Construction costs are typically between$20,000 and $40,000 per space. Of course the prettiest parking is underground, because it is invisible to the urban landscape. However this is the most expensive parking. Developers have told me that this parking is around $100,000 per space. So the simple answer is that parking costs a lot."

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