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Thursday, February 2, 2012

Stop the light-rail obsession.

Proponents will cite the fact that light rail will create jobs. But so will building lane miles and bridges. Minnesota Department of Transportation studies have proven that roads have a benefit/cost ratio greater than one, meaning that the economic benefit of a project outweighs the actual cost of the improvement and will pay for itself over time. Most road and bridge projects have ratios of three or four, meaning that $3 or $4 of calculated value is returned for every dollar of costs. The Hiawatha Line was projected at 0.42 in 1999, meaning that for every dollar spent, we receive 42 cents in value.
When you look at the costs, building more light rail lines is nothing short of a money pit that will bankrupt our state and our nation. It is time to cut our losses and stop this madness.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

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