We’ll still need the roads & streets, repairs/repaves, traffic lights, and snow plows even if 95% of us switch to bikes, e-mopeds, and trains…
In a hypothetical 2050 America that has embraced walkable neighborhoods and biking M-F and only using cars to visit friends in a different city, the roads & streets will still be being worn out at nearly the same rate by the elements and heavy delivery, construction, and emergency vehicles.
Because the road-quality bar for driveability is a often noticeably lower than the bar for bikeability, many/most municipalities with actual bike users on the board may vote for higher quality road construction, which likely would raise labor and/or material costs and likely balancing out to the same 20 year costs despite maybe going an extra year or two between repaves due to significantly less civilian 3,000-8,000lbs commuter vehicle use.
We’ll still need the roads & streets, repairs/repaves, traffic lights, and snow plows even if 95% of us switch to bikes, e-mopeds, and trains…
In a hypothetical 2050 America that has embraced walkable neighborhoods and biking M-F and only using cars to visit friends in a different city, the roads & streets will still be being worn out at nearly the same rate by the elements and heavy delivery, construction, and emergency vehicles.
Because the road-quality bar for driveability is a often noticeably lower than the bar for bikeability, many/most municipalities with actual bike users on the board may vote for higher quality road construction, which likely would raise labor and/or material costs and likely balancing out to the same 20 year costs despite maybe going an extra year or two between repaves due to significantly less civilian 3,000-8,000lbs commuter vehicle use.