Austin’s city government spent $1.5 million over 11 years on an unfinished 3.2-mile hike-and-bike trail. Now the Texas Department of Transportation has awarded the project an additional $2 million in stimulus money. This would raise the cost of a simple pedestrian and bicyclist trail to $1.5 million per mile, which is pretty mind-boggling, even considering that part of the path has been eaten away by erosion.