4 ms·

I know some of the bureaucracy and economics that go into infrastructure today, but I feel like the decision to commit to a 45 year bridge must've been a whole

I know some of the bureaucracy and economics that go into infrastructure today, but I feel like the decision to commit to a 45 year bridge must've been a whole different consideration for them back then. But then again, they spent much labor and resources creating tombs like the Pyramids.

cgriswald 6y ago
How about the cathedrals that are scattered across Europe? Some took centuries. People worked on them their whole lives knowing they’d never see the end result. Compared to that, a 45-year bridge seems quick and practical.
- InitialLastName 6y ago
  There was an article about that recently, focusing on St John the Divine in NYC (which has also been under construction for more than 100 years)[0]. The argument is basically that since, by their nature, cathedrals can be functional before their construction is complete, having a long-running construction process allows the design to be more responsive to the populace's changing needs. Also, in a world where leaders lived and died based on the approval of a centralized papal authority, it's just good politics to be known as "that city that's constantly been building that huge cathedral". [0] https://theprepared.org/features/2019/4/28/building-a-cathedral https://theprepared.org/features/2019/4/28/building-a-cathed...
  - amatecha 6y ago
    That's a super interesting point -- today we live in structures that are built in ~weeks and designed in probably similar timeframe. Then you live with it for decades, flaws and all. The idea of decades+ of design input sounds really interesting. I wonder how much those cathedrals would have their design change as construction progressed. Very cool.
- dredmorbius 6y ago
  Sagrada Família, begun in 1882, is not planned to be complete until 2032. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Família https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Família Washington National Cathedral was completed over 83 years, 1907--1990. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_National_Cathedral https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_National_Cathedral
thatguy0900 6y ago
Maybe projects like that are way easier to stomach when people stick around? The lord who ordered its construction or his son will preside the entire time, and I would imagine the builders would be building it until they retire or finish it. Any modern 45 year old project would probably have every job position involved in it (including, I would imagine, whoever was financing it) change people multiple times
alexchamberlain 6y ago
Can you imagine it in an agile world? The value was being delivered by the ferries the whole time.

cgriswald 6y ago

How about the cathedrals that are scattered across Europe? Some took centuries. People worked on them their whole lives knowing they’d never see the end result. Compared to that, a 45-year bridge seems quick and practical.

InitialLastName 6y ago
There was an article about that recently, focusing on St John the Divine in NYC (which has also been under construction for more than 100 years)[0]. The argument is basically that since, by their nature, cathedrals can be functional before their construction is complete, having a long-running construction process allows the design to be more responsive to the populace's changing needs. Also, in a world where leaders lived and died based on the approval of a centralized papal authority, it's just good politics to be known as "that city that's constantly been building that huge cathedral". [0] https://theprepared.org/features/2019/4/28/building-a-cathedral https://theprepared.org/features/2019/4/28/building-a-cathed...
- amatecha 6y ago
  That's a super interesting point -- today we live in structures that are built in ~weeks and designed in probably similar timeframe. Then you live with it for decades, flaws and all. The idea of decades+ of design input sounds really interesting. I wonder how much those cathedrals would have their design change as construction progressed. Very cool.
dredmorbius 6y ago
Sagrada Família, begun in 1882, is not planned to be complete until 2032. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Família https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Família Washington National Cathedral was completed over 83 years, 1907--1990. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_National_Cathedral https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_National_Cathedral

thatguy0900 6y ago

Maybe projects like that are way easier to stomach when people stick around? The lord who ordered its construction or his son will preside the entire time, and I would imagine the builders would be building it until they retire or finish it. Any modern 45 year old project would probably have every job position involved in it (including, I would imagine, whoever was financing it) change people multiple times

alexchamberlain 6y ago

Can you imagine it in an agile world? The value was being delivered by the ferries the whole time.