I wish there existed public tracks open all the time and no field in the middle

So is Dexter (bathroom springs- fall then OH), Chelsea, Stockbridge, Whitmore Lake, Pinckney.

Classic!

How much would land for a track cost in Seattle?
Than you have to build a track, no idea what that costs since I am Orca.
Than there are maintaining costs.
If 10 people use the track for every hour of the day, that would be 240 people, they are paying $50 per month. That's $12,000 per month.

I am not a financial wizard but that's probably not enough to finance a multi million dollar project.

I have a track like 1 km from my apt. It's only 2 lanes and 430 meters or so but it's usually pretty quiet and 4/8/1k/1500 are all clearly marked.

There is a 300ish meter track close to 2km away and a standard track at a stadium a little further that the running club uses for workouts. Nice trails along the river and tons of immigrants everywhere from all over the world so you know people who would speak English (most of the Polish speak English pretty well but use Polish in groups with other Polish so you'd need to try to pick some up)

Plus lots of Polish women, who unsurprisingly would probably not tolerate you at all. They generally seem even less impressed by US manosphere culture than American women.

Well to be fair, we bought some of it. New York City (at least Manhattan) was bought. Also I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make, but yes, all of the owned land in the US was once owned by American Indians instead. I don’t think that makes it any easier to build a track

Yep. That's why these facilities always rent out the infield for ball sports too. Also, the facility is going to host a bunch of track meets - not a big deal unless you're trying to workout after like 730am on the weekend or on friday after work.

If you want no ball sports on the infield at all the best you can do is find sections of a bike path or crushed limestone trail, measure them with gps, and put out cones (or use natural markers). I do some repeats on a .7 and 1.4 mile section of a rail trail - because it wastes less time than driving to a hs or college track and guessing/hoping there won't be a practice or game going on. This might be hard for middle distance though where you really need to practice running race pace.

Alright financial oracle of orca, just exactly how many monthly $50 subs would be required to acquire the land you feel is worthy, and then construct and maintain the facility for running-only use? What is the realistic running population interested in track use within a 10 mile radius that would shell out $600 per user per annum? Would you be able to get enough funding for this project without any public taxpayer subsidy? Or would you need wealthy benefactors to donate a fat sum?

Sorry. Can't be done. Billionaires must have their mega yachts, and public tracks will take away from their quality of life.
Oh yeah, and bombs. If we have tracks, we can't have bombs. Sorry. Your selfishness is unpatriotic.

1. Are tracks really necessary for 99.5% of runners in an era where highly accurate GPS watches and HRMs are available? Post-collegians running middle distances are a very small number.

2. Building a track from scratch is expensive. Assuming that you can acquire the land at reasonable cost, the site prep, grading, drainage, and a stable substrate is a minimum of $100-200K depending on the condition of the lot. A mid-level public high school worthy surface will set you back $600K, a high-quality competition grade surface is $900K. Want lights, restrooms, and a security fence? That's another $150K. This is why school districts lock their facilities up and why parks departments don't build them in the first place. That's a lot of money spent just to see stroller moms, walking groups, tai chi groups, Crossfitters, kids doing skids on bikes, people shooting fireworks, homeless campers needing a dry spot to pitch tents, etc. creating the need for an expensive repairs and resurfacing every few years.

Tracks are not cheap to build or even maintain. "Multi-use" is the standard way to sell them to communities.

When I do a track workout, I go to a local high school, usually about 6:30 a.m. on weekdays or late morning on weekends. I've never seen lacrosse players out there. Only occasionally football or soccer players. The joggers/walkers always stay out in lane four or higher.

1. 99.9% of post collegiate runners just race on the road or trails (or don't race at all). They don't necessarily need a track. You are correct. That doesn't mean there is something wrong with the 0.01%. I'm tired of the attitude - good enough for most people. We could extrapolate to most people don't run for fitness so our town doesn't need a rail trail, greenway, or even bike lanes. Basically if you don't want to just be a road racer post college, you have to join a track club.

2. I know this. That is why purpose built facilities (the ones that haven't been around for decades anyways) are constantly rented out for games or meets. I only know of like one of these. It has open track hours, along with college practices, and track club practices - but the whole time these are going on there are games on the infield. And yes, even the old track are locked up. Maybe they could have open hours and charge a use fee when no practices or games are going on - that's better than just having the track sit idle. People aren't going to pay to ride a bike or walk a stroller around the track - they only do these things because its free for them (or their kid is practicing nearby).

You sound like a frickin nerd

My answer would be

A) If you're going to be racing on the track, a minimum amount of training on a track is necessary just to get your muscles and form adjusted to running laps around a track.

B) Even Marathon runners nowadays seem to love doing workouts on the track. It's a surface that's easy on your body, fast, precise in distance, headwinds somewhat cancelled out by tailwinds, etc.

C) It's also somehow easier to get in distance reps on a track because you have this visual reference of how far you're running. Try doing K repeats around a track versus straight ahead on a trail and you'll notice that time feels like it goes by faster on the track.

D) Even if you don't need a track, it's not always easy to find a smooth, unobstructed stretch of a mile in a city.

You're posting on LRC, you're clearly projecting.

A) Is there no sort of counterfeit surface material that's maybe 75% cheaper but lasts 60% longer and still 80% similar feeling? No way to save costs on surface?

B) If only runners (no walkers, kid riding bikes, etc.) used a track, wouldn't it need resurfacing less frequently?

Houston built a mini Nike style track through the woods at Memorial Park. Closer to 200m than 400m but beautiful and super cool.

The HS track in Northern VA where I live now is always busy with runners. It's not a public utility that people really think about much but the demand is certainly there. Running culture generally skews to silently suffering rather than vocally pushing for things like public tracks to be built.

The high school near my family's summer cottage just had a brand new track installed last year. They didn't put it around the football field, instead they put it around the nearby forest and bordering the canal. It was a pleasant surprise to see such great planning. Helps they have a ton of open land nearby obviously. They just started a marathon this past year that goes along the coast of one of the Great Lakes as well.

This is it right here. Just get it done in the morning at your local high school.

6:30 is a bit late tho. Only creepers are on school grounds when they kids start showing up.

This would certainly add to maintenance costs in implementing a system to police the facility users. Regardless, the majority of deterioration for track surfaces comes via UV and freeze/thaw cycles.

All this said, you should see some of the tracks and running paths in urban Japan. Of course, they tend to be public works. Fukuoka's Ohori park has an all-weather soft surface 3-lane 2K track (with adjacent paved lanes for bikes and walkers) around a pond with markings every 100m. It is directly adjacent to Maizuru Park has an open 400m all-weather track with nominal user fee and hosts the start and finish of the Fukuoka International Marathon.