[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Muta

As for existing infrastructure costs; my guess is it costs less to maintain existing infrastructure then it costs to build new infrastructure. It's also interesting to note the fire hydrant example; a fire hydrant downtown usually services way more people per hydrant than in the suburbs, given the higher densities of residential (and commercial) properties. Do we get tax breaks because of it? No. Is it a more efficient use of existing infrastructure? Yes. Maintaining these hydrants costs less than building new water lines and hydrants for fewer people / lighter densities in the suburbs.

It doesn't necessarily cost more to install new infrastructure than to maintain old infrastructure, as maintenance can cost ridiculous amounts sometimes. The problem is that for some services, building new infrastructure forces the old infrastructure to be replaced as well, because it's not big enough. Water lines, sewer lines, storm sewers (especially), roads, etc.