Thursday, August 11, 2005

Getting and not getting cost-benefit analysis 

Getting it: Using technology to recycle astronaut urine and reduce the cost of sending water up to the International Space Station.

Not getting it: An eight-mile light rail in St. Cloud to reduce congestion on Division Street (State Highway 23). Cost would be about $500 million (assuming costs similar to the Hiawatha Line in Minneapolis). How many cars would get off Division? Given that Northstar Ridership is projected to be 9600/day and MTC (bus) ridership is far less than that, it's not unreasonable to think we could spend more than half a million per car removed.

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