It costs four times as much to build the equivalent piece of road in California as it does in Texas.
Posted by On with Kara Swisher, Checked
- Sources
- 2 contradict3 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 55%
On with Kara SwisherAug 10, 2026
The sources agree that building a road costs more in California than in Texas, but none supports a four-fold gap.
The host relays this claim without endorsing it. It counts as passed on, not against the post.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… So I'll give you one example that's not cutting spending; it's just getting more value for money, so you can reduce the spending. There's a contractor I spoke to. She does roads, road building. They do public works all over the country. She was explaining that in California, it costs four times as much to build the exact same equivalent piece of road as it does in Texas. Now, their road quality is rated higher than ours. It's not going into that. It's going into all this unnecessary process and bureaucracy, the kind of stuff that Ezra Klein has pointed out, and Derek Thompson in their book, Abundance. …
On with Kara Swisher · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. The Illinois EPI cost-per-lane-mile table puts California at about $59,257 and Texas at about $25,533 per lane mile (2015 dollars), a ratio of roughly 2.3 times rather than 4 times.[2]
Contradicts. The Texas Public Policy Foundation reports $265,061 per mile in California versus $88,539 in Texas for 2008, a ratio of about 3 times, which is below the claimed four-fold figure.[3]
Supports. Multiple sources show road construction costs per mile or lane mile are higher in California than in Texas, so the direction of the claim holds.[2][3]
Context. The PolitiFact check of a 4.7x claim found the 2009 figure outdated and an updated 2013 comparison showed about 2.5 times the national average, not a Texas comparison; the 4x figure is not corroborated by that check.[1]
Context. Steve Hilton's statements repeating the four-times figure, including the NY Post and LAist transcripts, trace back to a contractor anecdote and are not independent evidence for the figure.[4][5]
Sources
5 sources: 1 fact-checker, 3 not rated, 1 tier 3
- 1Does California spend 'nearly 5 times as much' to build a ... - PolitiFactpolitifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 2A Comparison of Highway Construction Costs in the ...illinoisepi.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 3TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATIONtexaspolicy.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 4Steve Hilton says California should be world's third-biggest economy, blames Gavin Newsom's red tapenypost.com · tier 3 · cited for: context
- 5Steve Hilton talks to LAist about why he should be ...laist.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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