The new era emerges from the build-out of the wireless information highway and low-cost high-performance computing engines.

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States have long been required by federal law to contribute 20% of the cost of highway and transit projects funded by the federal government.

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It is the most ambitious, expensive (in cost per mile) urban highway project ever.

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The document proposed that Chinese partner Guangdong Provincial Highway Construction Co. agree to the transfer of the extra cost from Hopewell's balance sheet to that of the project in the form of shareholder loans.

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Now it takes a day-and-a-half, thanks to an upgrade of the Friendship Highway, as the China-Nepal road is called, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.

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We ranked the list's vehicles based on what it costs to fuel them per year, according to the EPA. We measured cars by fueling cost because the EPA lists two gas-mileage figures per car, city and highway mileage, and we did not want to make an arbitrary decision about which mileage figure is more important.

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Finally, there are some real costs that the rental companies are passing on: Airports charge high rents to tenants like car rental agencies, so the cost of maintaining a special area for refueling is somewhat higher than it is for a typical highway gas station.

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Improving the highway system and boosting opportunities for telecommuting would go a long way in helping families to live in lower-cost areas.

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