Well yeah, 500 fatalities were not saved because this was not built. Nor have 100 people died building this hypothetical project. The example is an illustration

Well yeah, 500 fatalities were not saved because this was not built. Nor have 100 people died building this hypothetical project. The example is an illustration, the absolute numbers are irrelevant. The points is, even if people die building a big project, it's quite possible that that's for the greater good and more people are saved as a result. A bunch of people died in the Apollo missions. Does that mean we should have never attempted it and let the Russians figure out how to get to the moon? There's no way it would fly politically these days.