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In this country we've lost the ability to build things at a reasonable cost (or at all). A single mile of track in NYC costs about half as much as the entire De
by yummyfajitas 10y ago
In this country we've lost the ability to build things at a reasonable cost (or at all). A single mile of track in NYC costs about half as much as the entire Delhi metro system, or a typical Spanish rail line (not just a small track extension), etc.
The problem is costs, not revenue. Charging more money will merely divert funds from productive and valuable investments (e.g. self driving cars) into less valuables ones (e.g. tiny extensions to NYC subways). If you want to fix infrastructure, fix the cost problem.
- rosser 10y agoThere was an article shared on HN a couple years ago arguing these that sorts of cost spikes and overruns are pretty much endemic to countries with common-law legal systems, and almost non-existent outside them. I'm having a hard time digging it up, though. Sorry.
- abraae 10y agoThat sounds very credible. On a bus in Cambodia, I watched a man fixing potholes in the road. He had nothing but a spade, and each time a vehicle came past he leapt out if it's way, clinging to a dirt bank. When I got home after that holiday, I saw someone repairing the motorway near my home. The whole lane was shut down just for him, and there was a large truck with a crew of two and huge flashing arrows on it in front of him just to keep him safe. It would be literally hundreds of times cheaper building anything in an environment where lives were considered expendable.
- x0x0 10y agoYou've misdiagnosed the cost problem. We have suburbs who have never, and continue not to be, amortizing -- they don't pay their costs in taxes. That can be papered over by fees from growth when they are growing, but when they stop expanding, wait 50 years for infrastructure to wear out, and you have a disaster. Lots of suburbs and rural America are built far too sparsely to be affordable (to the denizens; Woodside will continue to be just fine).
- yummyfajitas 10y agoIf infrastructure cost the same as it costs in Spain, Korea, China or India, thos suburbs would be paying their costs. Delhi built a metro system for the cost of 2 miles of 2nd Ave Subway track in NYC. We spend too much. That's the problem.
- x0x0 10y agoThe price/cost overruns of building the 2nd ave subway (and the large stations, which is were most of the costs went) is unrelated to the price of building roads and sewer in suburban America. Also, doing stuff in America costs more than in China or India. News at 10.
- someguydave 10y ago>Also, doing stuff in America costs more than in China or India. News at 10. Which is his whole point. Also, the suburb cashflow you are super concerned about would be fixed with cheaper building/maintenance costs.
- x0x0 10y agoThen the point is stupid. Complaining (as I think?) that it's relatively more expensive is reasonable, though I doubt Americans would tolerate the widespread death rates involved in large infra projects in some countries. As I pointed out, nothing he mentioned is relevant to infra costs of your suburbs that aren't building giant gorgeous mezzanines or stupid pretty bridges like sf.