Tue 13 Mar 2007
The Brain Train would remove more than 5,000 cars from jammed highways and feeder roads during peak travel times – the equivalent of adding another lane to I-85.
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Phase One encompasses $311 million in improvements along 36 miles of track between Atlanta and Dacula (paralleling Highway 316 north of Lawrenceville), a number that has become less realistic as time has passed. Phase II, budgeted at $72 million, covers improvements to existing CSX tracks from Lawrenceville to Athens. (source:Driving The Brain Train | GeorgiaTrend.com)
IIRC the cost per lane mile of an interstate is $1Million. The Brain Train would cost $383 Million. It is 35 miles from I85 to Athens on 316 and about 30 miles from 316 to midtown on I85.
383 / (30 + 35 ) = 5.8
So, the cost per mile for the brain train is 5.8 Million per mile. Only a UGA grad would think the Brain Train is more cost effective than lane expansions.
2 Responses to “Doing the Brain Train Math”
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March 13th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Sounds like both numbers are woefully low. Throwing lanes down in the middle of nowhere might be $1 million a mile. But freeways in metropolitan areas are way more expensive. The suburban Century Freeway in Los Angeles, which opened in 1993, cost $127 million a mile. Freeway widenings run between $30 and $50 million a mile.
New urban rail lines start at about $85 million per mile. Of course, this proposal is commuter rail, which is much cheaper (but higher risk with respect to return). Los Angeles’s Metrolink system was launched in the early 1990’s for about $3.5 million per mile; San Diego’s Coaster in the mid-1990’s for about $4 million per mile.
Of course you can’t just look at capital costs either — other costs and benefits also figure. If you widen the freeway, after years of construction delays, congestion might be exactly where it is today in 10 years while a rail system is running at full speed.
I can’t speak to the ability of UGA grads, but cost-benefit analysis doesn’t just base the decision on which one costs more to buy right now. If that was the case, we’d all get our groceries at 99 cent stores.
March 14th, 2007 at 11:13 am
But wait..
the state/feds have already commited quite a bit of funding into improving 316 to highway grade and I-85 is already getting an extra lane or more with the HOV extension and 316-85 interchange improvements. I just can’t see adding some rail costing near this much unless its chock full of graft. Rolling rail into the plan should cost overall, less but then again we are talking about government.
I just don’t see rail to athens being near as vital as say, oh i dont know… rail to the northern suburbs where 3+ million live.