A road can be paved with either asphalt or concrete. Concrete costs $1,500,000 per mile and lasts 20 years. Assume the annual maintenance costs are $50,000 for concrete and $80,000 for asphalt per mile per year. Use an interest rate of 8% per year. Assume the asphalt road costs $600,000 per mile. How long it must last to be the preferred alternative?
Let the road be x miles long
First we estimate the annual cost of concrete road
AW(C)=1500000*(A/P,0.08,20)+50000*x
Let us calculate the interest factor
So,
AW(C)=1500000*0.10185221+50000x=152778.315+50000x
Similarly, we estimate the annual cost of asphalt road
AW(A)=600000*0.10185221+80000x=61111.326+80000x
Set AW(A)<AW(C)
61111.326+80000x<152778.315+50000x
30000x<152778.315-61111.326
x<3.05 miles
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