Commentary: Half-A-Trillion for Nothing

Year	Passenger Miles (Billions)	Expenditures Year of Expenditure $ (Billions)	Inflation Adjusted Expenditures 2004$ (Billions)	Expenditures per Passenger Mile	Expenditures if There Had Been No Above Inflationary Cost Escalation	Expenditures Above 1970 Passenger Mile Rate (Inflation Adjusted)
1970	41.0	$2.4	$11.7	$0.28	$11.7	$0.0
1971	38.4	$2.5	$11.4	$0.30	$10.9	$0.5
1972	36.9	$2.5	$11.5	$0.31	$10.5	$1.0
1973	37.3	$3.2	$13.8	$0.37	$10.6	$3.2
1974	38.8	$3.8	$14.4	$0.37	$11.0	$3.3
1975	38.0	$4.0	$14.0	$0.37	$10.8	$3.2
1976	39.6	$4.8	$15.9	$0.40	$11.3	$4.6
1977	40.8	$5.6	$17.4	$0.43	$11.6	$5.8
1978	39.6	$5.6	$16.1	$0.41	$11.3	$4.9
1979	38.2	$6.5	$16.8	$0.44	$10.9	$6.0
1980	39.9	$7.6	$17.5	$0.44	$11.3	$6.2
1981	38.5	$9.6	$20.0	$0.52	$10.9	$9.0
1982	37.1	$11.0	$21.6	$0.58	$10.6	$11.1
1983	37.6	$12.3	$23.3	$0.62	$10.7	$12.7
1984	39.4	$13.2	$24.0	$0.61	$11.2	$12.8
1985	39.6	$13.9	$24.3	$0.62	$11.3	$13.1
1986	40.2	$14.8	$25.5	$0.63	$11.4	$14.0
1987	40.3	$15.8	$26.3	$0.65	$11.5	$14.8
1988	40.6	$16.5	$26.3	$0.65	$11.5	$14.8
1989	38.2	$17.1	$26.0	$0.68	$10.9	$15.2
1990	38.0	$18.8	$27.2	$0.72	$10.8	$16.4
1991	37.5	$20.4	$28.3	$0.75	$10.7	$17.6
1992	37.2	$21.9	$29.5	$0.79	$10.6	$18.9
1993	36.2	$21.3	$27.8	$0.77	$10.3	$17.5
1994	37.9	$24.2	$30.9	$0.81	$10.8	$20.1
1995	38.0	$25.7	$31.9	$0.84	$10.8	$21.1
1996	39.0	$26.0	$31.3	$0.80	$11.1	$20.2
1997	40.2	$26.7	$31.4	$0.78	$11.4	$20.0
1998	41.6	$27.5	$31.9	$0.77	$11.8	$20.1
1999	43.3	$28.6	$32.4	$0.75	$12.3	$20.1
2000	43.4	$31.9	$35.0	$0.81	$12.3	$22.6
2001	46.5	$32.9	$35.1	$0.75	$13.2	$21.8
2002	45.9	$37.5	$39.3	$0.86	$13.1	$26.3
2003	45.7	$41.7	$42.8	$0.94	$13.0	$29.8
2004	46.5	$44.2	$44.2	$0.95	$13.2	$31.0
			$876.7			$479.3
Calculated from USDOT, APTA & US Bureau of the Census Data Note: The 2004$ total cost of building the US Interstate highway system is estimated at approximately $425 billion