SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

Chapter 8: Transportation Finance

Key Quotes

“We frame so many of our struggles as transportation problems, not because that is the best way to approach them, but because that is where the money is.” — Click to Tweet

“I want institutions that function on behalf of local communities. I want professional engineers and transportation planners to serve the common good. I want a system where politicians are rewarded for prudence and not avarice. All of these desires are deeply corrupted by the centralized and opaque way in which we have chosen to fund transportation investments.” — Click to Tweet

4th Street and 5th Street (Brainerd, Minnesota)

Highway Boondoggle Reports

Source: United States Public Interest Research Group. Click the map to learn more.

I-49 Inner-City Connector (Shreveport, Louisiana)

Official Project Website

Official Project Website of the I-49 Project

Rosie’s Garden

One of the shining beacons in Shreveport’s Allendale neighborhood is the Allendale Garden of Hope & Love. It was started by a passionate long-time resident, Rosie Chaffold. You can hear the story of the garden in her words in the video below. Then, to see some photos of the garden, and learn more, check out this Strong Towns article: “The Allendale Garden of Hope & Love.”

Economic Reports

The following reports were inconvenient for supporters of the I-49 project, and they were scrubbed from the web. But we have them for you here:

Joe Cortright bridge toll report

Valuing Time vs. Valuing Money

“If travelers attach so little value travel time savings, this calls into question the rationale for investing public funds in highway projects. Benefit-cost analyses used to justify highway projects count the estimated travel time savings, often valued at around $15 per hour, as the benefit of the project. If the real value of travel time savings is something like $3 an hour, that reduces the benefits by about 80 percent.” — Joe Cortright, City Commentary, “Louisville’s experiment in transportation economics”