Here's some costs for our latest highway which may or may not get built around here.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/transportation/8519884.htm?ERIGHTS=6550458327843281561philly::annoying@annoying.com&KRD_RM=5ppstqlpsrmqsropllllllllls|Noneof|Y">
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/transportation/8519884.htm?ERIGHTS=6550458327843281561philly::annoying@annoying.com&KRD_RM=5ppstqlpsrmqsropllllllllls|Noneof|Y "PennDot's announcement ends for now all design work and land purchases for the proposed nine-mile, $456 million highway from Montgomery Township to Doylestown."
This is a brand new 4 lane highway (2 lanes each direction) through a fairly undeveloped area that runs with the predominant topography (i.e. the road is going down a valley). PennDOT has owned a fair amount of land on the right of way for a while (few or no houses and business will have to go to build it), and the large interchage at one end is already built. No major interchanges or structures en route. $50 million per mile for a basic road through woods and farms and subdivisions. The area the road is being built through is hopelessly congested, and the highway will proabably be pretty full the day it opens with the growth going on up there. Traffic will probably be around 100,000 per day on this segment (we don't have all-day heavy use around here). The entire road will "bring in" $7.7 million in gas tax per year at that rate (actually, most of the people who use it are already clogging local roads nearby, so its not liek the money will really be new, but lets pretend). At a 30 year life, the money brought in won't even be half of just the present construction value, let alone paying for interest, maintenance (much more intensive up here with snow and freeze-thaw cycles), and police and lost property taxes. This is typical for roads in this area.
Notice the cost of this road is over half the cost of your 37 mile 20 lane monster in Houston. That's what a little bit of earthwork at $25 per CY will do to you!
All that being said, this road is desperately needed and should have been built 30 years ago. No thank you environmental whackos.
building a road across the flat plains of Houston is a lot easier and cheaper than building a road in the hills and mountains of Pennsylvania. Not so many mountains to knock down and valleys to fill up.