Creating Density in Downtown

[Hermod]

And I'm sure you have well-documented these perceived "needs" that receive funding. Did you ever stop to think that Michigan might not have so many "needs" if MDOT weren't busy constantly building new freeways in cornfields?

From ASCE: http://www.infrastructurereportcard....ct-sheet/roads

The same link also shows that Detroit is the 7th-most congested metropolitan area in the nation, contrary to what you have argued above.

The Highway Trust Fund isn't "bankrupt" in the sense that Social Security could be bankrupt. The Highway Trust Fund is a "lockbox" to assure that gas tax funds are only spent for the purpose. What ASCE is saying [[and I is an inguneer) is that the perceived need for highway rehab and bridge replacement in the future will exceed expected revenues from the gas tax and that lack of new revenues will allow further deterioration of the highway infrastructure. The HTF Doesn't "owe" anybody anything.

While the intervening county side might not be heavily developed, the purpose of a freeway may be to connect point A and point B without regard to the fact that the intervening countryside might be cornfields, desert, or dense forest. Freeways are built based on traffic demand, not on the density of roadside development. Urban and suburban freeways will have more frequent on/off ramps than will a freeway through less populated country.