However, the DOT has used the approach in other areas with great success. And I get that - in fact I live it. I'm a government contractor that works on transpo

However, the DOT has used the approach in other areas with great success. And I get that - in fact I live it. I'm a government contractor that works on transportation projects and it's frustrating when a particular agency doesn't want to use an innovative technique or design that has literally been successful on another project that's only a few miles away but project managers don't want to be testifying in front of their state legislatures about wasting tax payer money with a new fangled approach when the tried and true could have been used. Magazines like Engineering News-Record and ASME/ASCE journals bang the drum for concepts like "state of good repair" and ROI, but as long as the public will hang a politician or project manager out to try for an unsuccessful project (or worse, a new technique that kills someone), project managers will route around risk. Again, I'm not saying this is why US projects are so expensive, but there is often a rational through process behind seemingly irrational decisions. (yes, there are times where incompetency and/or corruption are also to blame, but IME it's much less often than portrayed in this thread).