Why does a traffic / economic study cost so much?

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[$5,000,000 for this one](https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/07/odot-awards-cleveland-25-million-to-study-browns-lakefront-proposal.html)
I don’t get it. Aren’t you just paying salaries? Pay a survey company to get an up to date traffic report. Pay some engineers and city planning specialists. 5 mllion just blows me away. And they act like…we got a good deal. ELI5?

In: Economics

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Supply is low, demand is high, work is hard. “Just pay some engineers” is a tall ask if those civil engineers have better things to do, like make sure all the rest of the buildings in your city/county are up to spec. Civil engineers are always in demand, and they get bank for it.

Anonymous 0 Comments

same reason why i can’t get a plumber to even come to my house for less than $169. they’re too busy, too many people need them, and not enough plumbers to go around. supply and demand.

Anonymous 0 Comments

“some engineers”. Good engineers cost a lot. I made 150k a few years ago as an engineer. A few of me seniors and a few juniors hired for 3-5 years and that budget is nothing. And you haven’t even paid project managers