Originally Posted by
cooker
Those dollar numbers seem ridiculous. Perhaps it also includes the cost of studying the proposal, estimating the impact on traffic flow, restriping adjacent lanes, holding public meetings, etc, but even so it seems way too high. I wonder if the guy just doesn't like the idea and is trying to discourage it with disinformation.
EDIT - estimates vary widely.
Here's an estimate of $35,000-$100,000/km and
here's one of $100,000-$1,000,000/km, from two neighbouring Canadian cities
So far, in almost every jurisdiction in North America, a study must be done proving that a proposed bike facility will not increase, even by one minute, the time required to drive a car over the street or highway. This study is in addition to environmental impact and other required studies. Obviously this obstructive ordinance adds a lot of expense and time to building bike lanes and other new infrastructure.
One million dollars for a kilometer or two of bike lane is probably still an extreme overstatement. I heard on the radio this morning that a new expressway bridge (I-75 across across the Rouge River in Michigan), plus demolition of the old bridge, is going to cost "only" two million dollars. It's hard to imagine that only a few buckets of paint and a couple signs would cost half the amount of a 12 lane expressway bridge. Even a separate bike path with extensive intersection reconstruction should be a lot less that a whole new bridge.
The Complete Streets ordinances around here require
five percent of construction costs to pay for bike and pedestrian infrastructure. That's probably a more reliable estimate of bike stuff compared to car stuff. If a new road costs one million per mile, the bike lane and sidewalk cost will be about $50,000. Restriping an existing road should be considerably cheaper than that.