Pedal Fort Collins explains the math used to calculate the impacts of various sized vehicles on the roads they travel.

Meg Dunn explains how civil engineers calculate the wear and tear of vehicles on the roadway. "Roads need to be maintained. But some vehicles cause more wear and tear than others, requiring additional maintenance," explains Dunn to set the stage for the discussion.
Dunn lays out the complex set of factors that can influence the state of street surfaces, such as construction materials, vehicle frequencies, vehicle weight, and vehicle speed. When comparing the impacts of various types of vehicles, Dunn suggests the Generalized Fourth Power Law, "which is a rule-of-thumb way to determine the level of damage caused by a particular load" and offers "some sense of how all of the different vehicles on the road compare in terms of how much damage they do to the surface of the street."
Dunn then breaks down the impacts of a sample of vehicle types on roads—everything from a nine-ton big rig to a Toyota Highlander to a Smart Car. Among Dunn's findings: "It would take 410 average sized cars traveling on a road to equal the level of damage caused by one 18,000 pound big rig truck. But it only takes 21 average cars to cause the level of damage created by a single hummer."
The agenda behind the post, however, is to point out the small amount of impact on streets perpetrated by people on bikes. After laying out the math for the impact of bikes, Dunn produces the following assessment: "every time you leave your car at home and take your bicycle out instead, you’re saving the City, and yourself, a car-load of money."
FULL STORY: Which road users make the greatest demands on our tax dollars?

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie