How Expensive are Roads Built only for Cars?

Combating the Myth That Complete Streets Are Too Expensive (Tanya Snyder, World Streets DC, Dec. 8, 2011)

Also discussed here: National Complete Steets Coalition

Today we look at reasons to build streets for uses other than driving (such as cycling and walking) and find that this is not only economical but also adds to the overall quality of life for cities that take this approach. Making roads more narrow for driving also reduces costs.



Key Quotes:

“Do you put on your walking boots only to find that your city’s street design conveys the message, ‘These roads were made for driving?’”

“Sidewalks will turn out to be somewhere around 3 percent of that compilation of costs.. Bicycle lanes, around 5 percent — and that’s adding bicycle lanes, of course, to both sides of the street…reducing the width of a lane by a foot can reduce the costs by 2 percent.”

“In many cases, by accommodating road uses that take up less space than automobiles, cities can reduce the need for road and intersection widening later”

Related articles

• Lo, and the Bicyclist Shall Talk with the Car Driver (timesunion.com)
• A vision for city as cyclist's paradise (boston.com)
• Bike Lanes too costly? (bikefriendlyoc.wordpress.com)
• Modular Bike Paths - The Bicycle Road is Designed to Make Cycling in Big Cities Safer (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com)
• Cycling to work to become Moscow's reality (rt.com)
• The Porshe bike RS: Its most expensive part? The badge on the front (independent.co.uk)