Right! Lester Brown, in his 2009 book, Plan B 4.0 (New York: W. W. Norton and Comapny, 2009, p. 17), estimated that, if all of the subsidies and the hidden costs were added to the price of gasoline, drivers would need to spend about $12.00 per gallon of gas to pay fully for the cost that car travel imposes on the economy. For further details, please look below at a slide from our Online Sprawl Presentation.

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price of gas
 

Tolls, gasoline taxes, and other user fees cover only about 70% of the direct cash costs of building and maintaining the nation's road system. The rest comes from government subsidies funded by our taxes.

There are hidden costs as well: damage caused by air pollution, increased rates of asthma, the cost of mending people injured in traffic accidents, and the need for strategic involvement with oil-producing nations.

Lester Brown, in his 2009 book, Plan B 4.0, estimated that, if all of the subsidies and the hidden costs were added to the price of gasoline, drivers would need to spend about $12.00 per gallon of gas to pay fully for the cost that car travel imposes on the economy.