It took a year to build the Empire State Building, and 5 years to build the Hoover Dam yet current estimates for the Francis Scott Key bridge rebuild are near 10 years. Why is this? Have we regressed?
In: Engineering
1. Because the maximum tolerable number of deaths during construction is 0, and this requires a lot more safety.
2. Because the maximum amount of early building failure is 0, and this requires a lot more double-checking and independent confirmation.
3. Because getting buildings done cheaper, given the above concerns, requires shopping around and exploiting a global market, which takes time.
4. Because you’re comparing total time, from “construction needed, how should we do it?” to “finished work ready to be used,” to numbers that only count from *breaking ground* to finished work.
5. Some amount of bureaucracy will be involved because this will likely be a government-funded project, which makes things take longer by its nature.
So, in brief? The comparison you’re making is flawed, and the things you’re comparing to had huge issues that would be absolutely unacceptable to modern Americans. Fixing those issues takes time.
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