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Economic and environmental savings of rail

The Costs of Driving

• Air pollution impacts our health and lifespans, costing $28 billion a year in California alone.

• Automobile traffic jams cost Americans $78 billion a year in lost time and wasted fuel. Transportation congestion in general costs $200 billion a year.

• Traffic accidents cost $160 billion a year.

• 100's of billions a year of public funds for road construction and repair, thanks to automobile, oil, and highway construction lobbyists who manage to crowd out more efficient alternatives.

• One-third, or more, of our urban land is devoted at great cost to roads and parking lots - land worth trillions of dollars, some of which higher space efficiency of rail would allow us to reclaim.  

• The cost of loss of community and the stress of driving are obvious, though difficult to quantify.