I know this will annoy some Scanalysts who are living in the past, when the US could build giant civil engineering works like the Hoover Dam and the Empire State Building. But that was before we were all born. So let’s look at the world we live in today.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was damaged in an accident and collapsed in March 2024. Since then, there has been lots of paperwork, and presumably lots of attorney billable hours, but no bridge. The current plan is to build a new bridge by 2030 – 6 years, assuming that schedule is more achievable than the one for California’s High Speed Rail project.
Meanwhile, somewhere else, a record-breaking 50 foot diameter tunnel has been drilled for 9 miles through solid rock under one of the world’s largest rivers … in only 2 years. I, for one, regret that the US which used to lead the world in physical accomplishments now leads the world only in the volume of regulations.
I recall some old Soviet propaganda (likely accurate in this particular case). It showed a photo or drawing (I don’t recall which) of a railroad train consisting of 20 or so open top bathtub gondola (coal) cars, but filled with stacks of paper. The caption described paper as by far the greatest output of Washington DC. I guess now it is electrons and ‘holes’ in silicon, but far greater in magnitude and deleterious effect. Sadly, your observation is emblematic of all bureaucratic/technocratic Western Civilization. What a shameful waste of potential. I guess that’s an unavoidable consequence of a hyper-regulatory state where political considerations trump merit and actual production. Similarly, finance has swallowed economics. Collapse of both systems are pending.
Oh well! Looks like that far-off 2030 date for reopening the bridge is going to slide. Maryland has rejected the cost estimate developed by the Phase 1 contractor doing the design work.
Some State punter estimated the new bridge would cost $4,300,000,000 to $5,200,000,000. Do they have any idea about how much work a contractor has to do to come up with a realistic cost estimate for a project in the $Billion range? The detailed design; the Material Take Off; the labor hours; constraints on availability of materials and skilled labor; scheduling; compliance costs; contingencies; etc. It takes thousands of hours and millions of dollars to build a realistic cost estimate of this magnitude.
Apparently, the contractor who did the actual cost estimating effort came up with a higher number than the State had pulled out of the air. (When was the last time the State of Maryland built a big bridge?) State & contractor have now parted company, and the schedule has surely slipped.
China’s many current infrastructure successes, and the US’s own amazing construction history, prove that it does not need to be this way. We are choosing mediocrity – or allowing politicians & lawyers to chose it for us.
Yeah. The “adversarial truth finding process” is certainly the best way to design a bridge (or anything for that matter). A jury is the best instrument to “settle the science”.