In the US, major infrastructure projects are routinely much, much more expensive [1][2][3][4][5] than anywhere else. Without details, I'm skeptical of how Musk

In the US, major infrastructure projects are routinely much, much more expensive [1][2][3][4][5] than anywhere else. Without details, I'm skeptical of how Musk intends to solve this problem. Of course, he doesn't have to. If he merely intends to absorb as much PPP/government spending as possible -- like partially does now with SpaceX -- then it could still be a sound business model. This works out rather well for the likes of other infrastructure companies like Fluor, Skanska, Strabag, and many more -- companies that are hardly household names, but form consortiums to construct just about every major infrastructure project we have today. I wouldn't put it Musk to try to explore using as minimal human labor as possible and deploy completely automatic Tunnel Boring Machines, enabling him to underbid everyone and win contracts. Then with a few projects under his belt, and a few construction journals writing about his company's innovations, his company will achieve name recognition on a level that few construction companies have. This will confer prestige to projects he's worked on, potentially making it an non-negligible selection criteria, especially in countries where prestige and demonstrating being on the cutting-edge is held in high regard. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-04-08/why-u-s-infrastructure-costs-so-much https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-04-08/why-u-s-i... [2] http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/06/how-much-bang-do-we-get-our-infrastructure-buck http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/06/how-much-bang-... [3] https://pedestrianobservations.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/us-rail-construction-costs/ https://pedestrianobservations.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/us-r... [4] https://pedestrianobservations.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/comparative-subway-construction-costs-revised/ https://pedestrianobservations.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/comp... [5] http://theweek.com/articles/449646/why-expensive-build-bridge-america http://theweek.com/articles/449646/why-expensive-build-bridg...