How could the Heartland Expressway have a greater impact than similar urban investments?
Metropolitan areas have highly developed transportation systems. Very large investments in urban areas usually only effect minor changes to the cities overall accessibility.10 Conversely, rural projects such as the Heartland Expressway provide a dramatic increase to the regions accessibility and mobility due to the less developed nature of transportation systems in rural areas such as the Great Plains. Also, the cost of developing multi-lane highways in rural areas is far cheaper per mile than the same investment in an urban area. The higher price of land and the more densely developed landscape in urban areas greatly increases the cost of an urban project. A $100 million investment may build 50 miles of expressway in a rural area whereas the same amount of money often-times will only build a few miles of expressway in an urban environment.
