It's not about making the engineer's job easier. It's about the millions of man hours that will be lost over the lifetime of the road, and the additional safety issues that arise because the road has unnecessary turns.
As we're also seeing with this project, roads are not just for cars. The pre-negotiated right-of-way is also used for utilities, mass-transit and who knows what else in the future? It has negative effects on safety, the economy, work efficiency and other factors.
Because somebody doesn't want to be inconvenienced by a move that they'll have years of notice to make, or some farm doesn't want to shave off some fraction of their road-side property, lives will be lost, work will be wasted, pollution will increase, maintenance costs on keeping the roads and other right-of-way inhabitants will be magnified and more.
A new road isn't about just going someplace you've never been a minute quicker. Most roads are about making the time it takes from getting to a place I already go faster or at higher capacity. It drives development, decentralizes and spreads around economic activity, increases national productive output, stimulates the economy, it can increase educational and employment opportunities, make consumers of productive output more accessible and efficient to reach. A good road can be the difference between abject poverty for a region, or a new city.
If giving up my land for these projects will have such positive results, I should be compensated well above the market rates for otherwise similar properties, no?
The definition of the market rate for a unique item (such as a parcel of land) is what both seller and buyer agree to; thus you can not be paid above market rate.
In some cases, what you say is true. In some cases not. I don't know if anyone actually had their land seized to build any of these http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18855961 but shouldn't the land now be returned to its rightful owners?
If you are in the UK, consider the debate raging over HS2, or the Heathrow expansion.
True. In some places, they overbuild and seize property for reasons other than the natural expansion of the population. Japan is notorious for growing GDP through endless useless road construction and river paving, often at the expense of local landowners.
As we're also seeing with this project, roads are not just for cars. The pre-negotiated right-of-way is also used for utilities, mass-transit and who knows what else in the future? It has negative effects on safety, the economy, work efficiency and other factors.
Because somebody doesn't want to be inconvenienced by a move that they'll have years of notice to make, or some farm doesn't want to shave off some fraction of their road-side property, lives will be lost, work will be wasted, pollution will increase, maintenance costs on keeping the roads and other right-of-way inhabitants will be magnified and more.
A new road isn't about just going someplace you've never been a minute quicker. Most roads are about making the time it takes from getting to a place I already go faster or at higher capacity. It drives development, decentralizes and spreads around economic activity, increases national productive output, stimulates the economy, it can increase educational and employment opportunities, make consumers of productive output more accessible and efficient to reach. A good road can be the difference between abject poverty for a region, or a new city.