4 ms·

> European construction seems a lot better Unless the situation in the US is really, really REALLY horrible, I doubt that. I don't remember where, but one coun

by krylon 4y ago

> European construction seems a lot better Unless the situation in the US is really, really REALLY horrible, I doubt that. I don't remember where, but one country is in the process of building a nuclear power plant, that is AFAIK unfinished, but already took way more time and money than originally planned. Doesn't even have to be nuclear - ask the Internet about Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie or Stuttgart's train station. Having public construction projects overrun their schedules and budgets is a well-honored tradition, at least in Germany, but I suspect our neighbors have similar customs.

mandevil 4y ago
An excellent (English language) podcast about Berlin's fiasco of an airport, BER: https://www.radiospaetkauf.com/ber/ https://www.radiospaetkauf.com/ber/ (29 years from planning to completion, 14 years from construction start to opening, 9 years late, budget from 1 billion Euro to almost 6). One of the points they made in the podcast was similar to TFA's: changes in construction are really expensive and blow things out in costs. A new mayor came in and demanded major changes once construction was underway in Berlin. And then, when people said "this will cause problems" his response was basically "we're Germany, we are the best at planning, building and constructing, of course we can handle this with no problems"...
- tacocataco 4y ago
  I don't think being the best at planning means much when you change those plans mid project.
  - krylon 4y ago
    The story of BER's troubled birth confirms your view. German satire website Der Postillion (roughly equivalent to The Onion) ran a headline once that Berlin would get a new airport by moving the entire city to some place with an existing airport.
ajmurmann 4y ago
US is absolutely terrible at large infrastructure projects. This article has some good details and statistics: https://www.niskanencenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/levy-infastructure.pdf https://www.niskanencenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/le... In general, Alon Levy's blog has great articles on this topic and he lives in Berlin https://pedestrianobservations.com/ https://pedestrianobservations.com/

by krylon 4y ago

mandevil 4y ago

An excellent (English language) podcast about Berlin's fiasco of an airport, BER: https://www.radiospaetkauf.com/ber/ https://www.radiospaetkauf.com/ber/ (29 years from planning to completion, 14 years from construction start to opening, 9 years late, budget from 1 billion Euro to almost 6). One of the points they made in the podcast was similar to TFA's: changes in construction are really expensive and blow things out in costs. A new mayor came in and demanded major changes once construction was underway in Berlin. And then, when people said "this will cause problems" his response was basically "we're Germany, we are the best at planning, building and constructing, of course we can handle this with no problems"...

tacocataco 4y ago
I don't think being the best at planning means much when you change those plans mid project.
- krylon 4y ago
  The story of BER's troubled birth confirms your view. German satire website Der Postillion (roughly equivalent to The Onion) ran a headline once that Berlin would get a new airport by moving the entire city to some place with an existing airport.

ajmurmann 4y ago

US is absolutely terrible at large infrastructure projects. This article has some good details and statistics: https://www.niskanencenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/levy-infastructure.pdf https://www.niskanencenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/le... In general, Alon Levy's blog has great articles on this topic and he lives in Berlin https://pedestrianobservations.com/ https://pedestrianobservations.com/