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
There are many factors. Like the other person pointed out we used to just build and didn’t think about proper planning particularly for the environment/ecosystem, so we could build a lot but we also fucked a ton of shit up and had to fix that for decades after (or we didn’t and just let the issue persist, even worse…)
Also, the major firms that have the expertise and ability to build these large scale projects tend to be under contract elsewhere and have plans booked out many years in advance.
We take longer to do research and we invest in way better planning. Then there is getting permits. Then there is actually hiring the firms and getting on their schedule. Then you deal with suppliers and prepping for the work. Finally, you break ground and build and throughout there can be issues, delays, pivots.
There is zero doubt we build public infrastructure better today than in the past. Better planning, better materials, better design for more safety, more functionality, the works. The flipside to that is much larger costs and longer timelines.
We could deregulate and hire subpar contractors and use cheap materials, and it certainly would go up quickly… but would you trust it? Would the govt be able to afford the inevitable class action lawsuits from failures?
Latest Answers