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
Safety standards, more advanced engineering, and unique challenging factors to the situation with the Key bridge.
The biggest two are the existing debris from the bridge collapse and the water traffic from shipping. The water way is *very* busy and can’t be just shut down to put in the tools, people, and equipment needed to build a replacement bridge quickly.
People like to point to chinese construction as an example of china being more efficient, but their speed comes at serious costs. In safety for the workers, the environmental impact of their materials and methods, and the longevity of the projects. There’s a reason that “tofu dreg” construction in china is a recurring joke about the problems their buildings face.
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