Eric Goldwyn on the Past, Present, and Future of Transportation

NYU's transit costs expert tells me all about transit costs and more. This is a long one, so hang on to your straps folks.

It’s NYU month here at Exasperated Infrastructures. I was excited to interview two of NYU’s transportation staff back to back.¹ Professor Eric Goldwyn joined me to talk about all things costs and capacity, which closely mirrors the work he does at the Marron Institute at NYU alongside his team of intrepid researchers. This team is one of the only entities in the country trying to figure out why it’s so hard for American planners and engineers—with all their experience and expertise—to just build nuts-and-bolts infrastructure at a reasonable cost.

Our problems aren’t limited to simply overspending, he’ll tell me. We just don’t have enough staff with enough latitude or expertise to build what we need when we need it. So we just don’t. But we have to? We got into it below.

This interview has been edited for clarity, length, and timeliness.