Community Improvements and Services Costs

Unit costs of construction and maintenance of municipal public works and public utilities are a function of residential neighborhood population density. There has been a need for cost data on such municipal improvements for single-family residential neighborhoods to assist planners and engineers in setting planning and design standards for various development densities and in evaluating the costs of developing urban areas at varying densities. The investigation developed some of the needed information by means of a field study of expenditures for construction and maintenance in four residential communities and by synthesizing data for a hypothetical residential neighborhood. An account of the sources of field data is given. The manner of defining and determining residential population density is described. Some results of the data analysis for sanitary sewerage and water lines are presented as a series of 15 graphs with textural references and interpretations.