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I wonder though. I live on a dirt road, out in the country. It was built by a contractor, who was selling farmland for housing, 50 years ago. Instead of digging down, putting aggregate(gravel, etc), the road was just laid over farmland, with a foot of gravel. Once the municipality took over, it was fine for a while, but maintenance costs were through the roof. Springtime flooding, washouts, and heavy trucks woild sink (no drainage, mud) in the spring. Eventually, the municipality had to dig down 4ft, put in proper drainage and gravel base, to reduce failure and ongoing maintenance costs. (I'm in Canada, and frost/snow/ice creates loads of maintenance, especally without drainage.. a southern American in Arizona might wonder what the big deal is) Anyhow, now there are laws for road quality and developers here, 50 years later, bit I wonder.... Could that private rail developer be shifting initial cost, to higher maintenance costs? And further, mountains have issues with freezing/etc, and it does make a massive diff... |