Make The Road Less Traveled The Way To Work

The cost per lane-mile of urban highway is almost $4 million. The cost per mile of information superhighway is $20,000.

Positive community and global effects are possible from even modest levels of telework. Half-time home-based work could:

• Save $23 billion a year in imported oil;
• Cut Persian Gulf imports by 37%;
• Reduce greenhouse gases by the equivalent of taking almost 10 million cars off the road;
• Achieve 27% of the nation’s 2020 goal for GHG reduction from light cars and trucks;
• Prevent over 95,000 traffic injuries and deaths;
• Save over $11 billion in accident costs;
• Lower highway maintenance costs almost $2 billion a year.

Home-based work has the additional potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 28 million tons due to reduced office construction, and 312 million due to energy saved by businesses.

Traffic accidents cost $60 billion a year and result in 3 million lost workdays. More than a quarter of accidents occur during the commute to and from work, making it the most dangerous part of the day. 70% of drivers admit to making obscene gestures, tailgating, and blowing their horns to express their irritation; over 40% retaliate against or get into confrontations with fellow drivers.

From 1982 to 2005, only 6% of major cities were able to expand their roads in pace with traffic needs. By 2025, the U.S. will need an additional 104,000 lane-miles of capacity to handle the projected load. Funding those improvements will cost $525 billion tax dollars.