I’m gonna lay this on you, but it is not an attack on you specifically. A railroad track, while way more expensive upfront, has a way lower maintenance cost on the long run. Asphalt road, while cheaper upfront, essentially needs to be rebuild virtually from scratch every six months or so. Depending on weather and heavy load usage, an asphalt road –despite being made out of almost 90% recyclable material– will cost just as much and maybe even much more than rail over the span of 10 years. On the same page rail is, not entirely but almost, completely impervious to weather and heavy load damage. So the maintenance costs are nearly fixed and highly predictable. Asphalt is variable and unpredictable, a road could last 18 months or 3 months. Finally, the labor costs of road maintenance are way higher than rail maintenance, while being several times more deadly. Because drivers keep insisting on running over road workers.
I’m gonna lay this on you, but it is not an attack on you specifically. A railroad track, while way more expensive upfront, has a way lower maintenance cost on the long run. Asphalt road, while cheaper upfront, essentially needs to be rebuild virtually from scratch every six months or so. Depending on weather and heavy load usage, an asphalt road –despite being made out of almost 90% recyclable material– will cost just as much and maybe even much more than rail over the span of 10 years. On the same page rail is, not entirely but almost, completely impervious to weather and heavy load damage. So the maintenance costs are nearly fixed and highly predictable. Asphalt is variable and unpredictable, a road could last 18 months or 3 months. Finally, the labor costs of road maintenance are way higher than rail maintenance, while being several times more deadly. Because drivers keep insisting on running over road workers.