"Why American transport projects cost so much?" (highway, issues, compared)
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US is #1 among developed countries. Highways, bridges are also more expensive. This Scandivian bridge connecting Copenhagen, Denmark with Malmo Sweeden
Land values are generally quite low in American, certainly compared to Tokyo. Even NYC and San Francisco aren't outside the realm of normal for international cities. Things are usually measured by distance and then compared to similar projects. It's always been interesting to me as well.
The thing is the analysis compared the US to other developed countries like Spain and Japan.
Well, maybe they pay construction workers less. Someone could do an analysis. Hard to believe there would be less red tape in a semi-socialist country like Spain (or Scandinavia, mentioned above).
Could it be the public involvement processes, environmental impact statements, and civil rights/environmental justice concerns? I have no idea if we're unique in the amount of stuff we have to do before a thing is built.
US is #1 among developed countries. Highways, bridges are also more expensive. This Scandivian bridge connecting Copenhagen, Denmark with Malmo Sweeden
4 miles of bridge for just road, though with higher traffic volumes
Or the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge. $6.3 billion dollars and 11 years later, it's finally going close to completion. All two miles of it. It is a much more heavily used bridge than Oresund but doesn't carry rail HSR. Rail is a separate tube that's in need of replacement. That's another $10 billion (estimated) although if that works out like the Eastern Span and balloons six-fold...
The author of the Pedestrian Observations post made this comment further down:
I don’t want to offer explanations for the high costs; the only one I’m even mildly sure about is that US contracting procurement, especially in New York, is so byzantine that the only bidders are too incompetent or corrupt to get private-sector work. I don’t think it’s really because of capitalism-socialism issues, because the costs in both Scandinavia and Singapore are stunningly average. However, I’ve heard either from the MTA’s Making Every Dollar Count report or from a comment on said report that the specific rules in New York force about 50-100% overstaffing, something that at least elsewhere I know does not exist in Scandinavian transit.
Suspect that might be true for New York City, a family member works in a NYC firm who said bidding for government was annoying complicated and something to be avoided.
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