why do infrastructure projects in the United States take so long and so much money to build when Europe seems to get high speed rail and better infrastructure for faster and cheaper?
In: Engineering
Politicians like to spend money on short term solutions on a local level. In my town we could use divergence lanes and ramps to ease traffic flow but what we get it stop lights. Politicians that want to be re-elected don’t want to be known as big spenders so they take the cheap options when they can and putting off infrastructure is always cheaper that spending on things that don’t make money right away. In the US, if a State route goes through your town the state or the Federal Government will help the city with the cost of roads and bridges. If the highway runs across multiple counties, the state can apply for Federal help with the projects. Federal funds come form Capital Hill and are allocated out of the yearly budget. First you have to get proposals done. Then impact statements, traffic flow studies, feasibility studies and cost projections. These can be expensive. Then contractors have to put in bids, the bids have to be reviewed and then the contracts awarded. This can take years. The money then needs to be available to pay for the contractors to start work. When politicians are “balancing the budget” that means infrastructure funds usually go bye bye. Then the whole process has to start over.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon gets $690 billion dollars a year and doesn’t have to explain anything until years later.
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