If you are to believe certain Gubernatorial Candidates, roads, once built, are “free.”  The truth is that as we add capacity (miles of road), we are also augmenting the financial burden of the public which pays for that road.  I have heard it quoted that the build out of the road is only 25% of it’s total cost.

Take a look at the following video which illustrates the time-lapsed life-cycle of a roadway.  When a decision is made to build a new road, it is a long-term  commitment to an ever-expanding future budget for repair, renewal and rebuilding.  As our network of roads expands (and ages), where is the needed money going to come from?