Commuting trends: transit vs driving vs ...

[tomh009]

I assume you mean rebuilding narrower, as opposed to rebuilding unchanged? I can’t imagine that you would ever rebuild just to lose a tiny bit of width — you would adjust the design when rebuilding anyway.

It seems obvious that rebuilding narrowed should in most cases cost less, so there is no up-front cost, just a small immediate savings, and then small ongoing savings over the years, combined with a small safety increase. The cost is that drivers have to actually watch what their doing and drive at a more reasonable (or less unreasonable) speed.

Correct, at the time of rebuilding.

But is it really less expensive? There is less paving, yes. But it requires new curbs, boulevard repairs, driveway repairs and traffic sign relocations. How much do those cost, as compared to the savings in pavement?