LSAT 135 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q20

LR Question 20 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: There are two ways to manage an existing transportation infrastructure …

QUESTION TYPE: Paradox

PARADOX: There are two ways to manage transportation infrastructure. Continuous maintenance is much cheaper in the long run, yet it’s almost never used.

ANALYSIS: If continuous maintenance is cheaper than periodical reconstruction, why doesn’t everyone do it?

The correct answer should explain why people consistently choose the more expensive option.

Notice that it says cheaper in the long run. A good explanation would show that the two approaches feel very different in the short run.

Continuous maintenance requires people to spend money year after year, even when everything seems fine.

Radical reconstruction only becomes necessary after years of neglect.

So if the consequences of neglect are slow to appear, it’s easy for governments to postpone maintenance. By the time the infrastructure is in bad shape, the officials who delayed maintenance may no longer even be in office.

That explains why the cheaper strategy is so often ignored.

___________

1. This makes things even more confusing. Radical reconstruction is more expensive and it’s hard to coordinate efficiently? Why are we still choosing it then?
2. This tells us how maintenance money is allocated. It doesn’t explain why continuous maintenance is rarely adopted in the first place.
3. This compares two kinds of inadequate maintenance. The question is asking why governments don’t adopt adequate continuous maintenance.
4. So radical reconstruction seems even worse now. This doesn’t explain why governments still end up relying on it.
5. CORRECT. Even though continuous maintenance is cheaper in the long run, the benefits aren’t immediate. Because nothing seems wrong for years, it’s easy to delay maintenance and spend money elsewhere. Only much later do the consequences appear, by which point expensive reconstruction becomes necessary. This explains why people repeatedly fail to adopt the cheaper long-term strategy.