Pounding the Pavement

3 million -- number of acres of open space developed each year in the U.S.

40 -- percentage increase in acreage of developed land in the U.S. between 1982 and 1997

1891 -- year in which the first road was paved in the U.S.

2.4 million -- number of miles of paved public roads in the U.S. in 1997

23 -- percentage increase in miles of paved public roads in the U.S. from 1977 to 1997

83.9 million -- number of metric tons of cement produced in the U.S. in 1998

10.7 million -- metric tons of greenhouse gases (carbon equivalent) released in 1998 as a by-product of cement production in the U.S., an increase of 18 percent since 1990

132,197 -- acres of mature forest needed to sequester that carbon

6-8 million -- metric ton increase in concrete demand expected due to funding in the 1997 transportation bill (TEA-21)

1.4 million -- number of dollars in hard money campaign contributions given by "building materials and equipment" PACs in the 1997-98 election cycle

1,900 -- percentage increase in storm water flow caused by replacing forest land with commercial development

100 (virtually) -- percentage of the length of the Los Angeles River paved with concrete

12 million -- number of cubic yards of concrete in the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest concrete structure in the world

Sources:
1 -- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, 1997 National Resources Inventory: Highlights.
2 -- Calculated from U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, 1997 National Resources Inventory: Highlights.
3 -- American Concrete Pavement Association, History -- Concrete in Highway Transportation.
4 -- U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics 1997 (PDF).
5 -- Calculated from U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics Summary to 1995 (PDF).
6 -- U.S. Geological Survey, Minerals Yearbook: Cement (PDF), 1998.
7 -- U.S. EPA, Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-1998 (PDF).
8 -- Calculated assuming that 200 tons of carbon are sequestered in one hectare of forest, as cited in: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Reference Manual (Volume 3) (PDF).
9 -- U.S. Geological Survey, Minerals Yearbook: Cement (PDF), 1998.
10 -- Center for Responsive Politics, Building Materials & Equipment PAC Contributions to Federal Candidates, 1997-1998.
11 -- John Irvin, The Importance of Being Pervious.
12 -- Blake Gumprecht, The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death and Possible Rebirth (introduction), Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.
13 -- U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Grand Coulee Powerplant, Sept. 2000.