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What about Oroville dam repairs? It was a pretty successful and fast engineering project. I think that America can still build quickly if she wants to. But most

by matusp 5y ago

What about Oroville dam repairs? It was a pretty successful and fast engineering project. I think that America can still build quickly if she wants to. But most of the projects are not that important.

jansen555 5y ago
samtho 5y ago
That’s kind of a strange example. Fixing things that provide existential hazards is always a priority, not to mention that the scope of the damn did not change with the repairs (the dam did not get taller, wider, etc). There was no reason for nimby-isms, environmental impact reports of building/expanding the reservoir, etc, as it was already there. It was a huge, ongoing emergency that required action to be taken and only cost the state $1.1B, from which they’re trying to recover some portion from federal funds.
- frosted-flakes 5y ago
  > There [is] no reason for nimby-isms, environmental impact reports of building/expanding That's probably also the case in China, for everything. Which might be why they can build so qyickly and cheaply.
renewiltord 5y ago
MacArthur Maze repair was also under budget and before timeline because of the novel contract. The truth is that most US infrastructure is not required. We should let many of these roads rot and many of these super projects languish in design. Notice how CA HSR had delays because they wanted to use “first of its kind state of the art signaling system”. Why “first of its kind”? There exist like a dozen HSR builders. Just copy them. But that’s because HSR isn’t required. So we just use it as a modern WPA-style jobs tool.
- gkop 5y ago
  > The truth is that most US infrastructure is not required. Would you say more? This is a bold claim.
  - hervature 5y ago
    Maybe most is unwarranted but certainly some [1]. [1] - https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/1/23/iowa-dot-helps-educate https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/1/23/iowa-dot-helps...
    - vgel 5y ago
      This article is about a road diet in terms of restriping an existing road with fewer lanes, but the same amount of asphalt (and, given the additional markings, probably a similar amount of paint). I don't see what that has to do with the infrastructure being not needed.
  - renewiltord 5y ago
    This comment box is too small to provide a proof ;) I’m sorry, it’s not fair to make a controversial statement and then leave it at that but I only had the appetite to provide the hypothesis (easy) not the backing (I’ve got to collate my notes on this). But, if you’re down to meet in SF one evening in April we could go over it.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- jeffbee 5y ago
  I think you're actually talking about Caltrain's CBOSS system, which while obviously related to the CAHSR, eventually, was designed and (not) implemented by a completely different agency at a prior time. https://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-end-of-cboss.html https://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-end-of-cboss.h...
  - renewiltord 5y ago

by matusp 5y ago

jansen555 5y ago

samtho 5y ago

That’s kind of a strange example. Fixing things that provide existential hazards is always a priority, not to mention that the scope of the damn did not change with the repairs (the dam did not get taller, wider, etc). There was no reason for nimby-isms, environmental impact reports of building/expanding the reservoir, etc, as it was already there. It was a huge, ongoing emergency that required action to be taken and only cost the state $1.1B, from which they’re trying to recover some portion from federal funds.

frosted-flakes 5y ago
> There [is] no reason for nimby-isms, environmental impact reports of building/expanding That's probably also the case in China, for everything. Which might be why they can build so qyickly and cheaply.

renewiltord 5y ago

MacArthur Maze repair was also under budget and before timeline because of the novel contract. The truth is that most US infrastructure is not required. We should let many of these roads rot and many of these super projects languish in design. Notice how CA HSR had delays because they wanted to use “first of its kind state of the art signaling system”. Why “first of its kind”? There exist like a dozen HSR builders. Just copy them. But that’s because HSR isn’t required. So we just use it as a modern WPA-style jobs tool.

gkop 5y ago
> The truth is that most US infrastructure is not required. Would you say more? This is a bold claim.
- hervature 5y ago
  Maybe most is unwarranted but certainly some [1]. [1] - https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/1/23/iowa-dot-helps-educate https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/1/23/iowa-dot-helps...
  - vgel 5y ago
    This article is about a road diet in terms of restriping an existing road with fewer lanes, but the same amount of asphalt (and, given the additional markings, probably a similar amount of paint). I don't see what that has to do with the infrastructure being not needed.
- renewiltord 5y ago
  This comment box is too small to provide a proof ;) I’m sorry, it’s not fair to make a controversial statement and then leave it at that but I only had the appetite to provide the hypothesis (easy) not the backing (I’ve got to collate my notes on this). But, if you’re down to meet in SF one evening in April we could go over it.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
jeffbee 5y ago
I think you're actually talking about Caltrain's CBOSS system, which while obviously related to the CAHSR, eventually, was designed and (not) implemented by a completely different agency at a prior time. https://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-end-of-cboss.html https://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-end-of-cboss.h...
- renewiltord 5y ago