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The time it took to place the bridge has almost no indication of whether this project was on time or on budget. This bridge project started December 2017! So 5

by mym1990 4y ago

The time it took to place the bridge has almost no indication of whether this project was on time or on budget. This bridge project started December 2017! So 5+ years of work for a weekend of final execution. On top of this, while the bridge may be in a small city in Maine, the initiative is run by the Maine DOT, which is likely substantially larger as an organization.

geenew 4y ago
It has a bearing on the cost associated with road closures, which can't be insignificant. Anyway, some quick looking found: > Gov. Janet Mills toured the Veranda Street site of the new bridge being installed along Interstate 295 in Portland on Saturday afternoon and said she was pleased with the rapid progress of the project. > “I’m thrilled with the technology, thrilled that it’s going on time and on budget,” Mills said. “Three days’ time, and this bridge will be done. It’s amazing. It’s like giant Legos going together.” https://www.pressherald.com/2022/04/23/i-295-bridge-replacement-is-on-track-dot-says/ https://www.pressherald.com/2022/04/23/i-295-bridge-replacem... which seems like enough to go on to presume it's at least close to being on budget.
- mym1990 4y ago
  You can always say you are on time and on budget as long as extensions come your way. My point was not saying that this project was not on time or on budget, it was mainly to illustrate that the 3 days of work that locals saw was based on 5 years of research and preparation. I recently read 'Built: The Hidden Stories Behind our Structures' by Roma Agrawal and it would be fairly rudimentary for a structural engineer, but for the average passerby it was a very interesting read on some of the structures that we use every day! (and how some of them are miserable failures haha)
echelon 4y ago
The best construction hustle I've ever seen is Georgia's relatively recent repair of a bridge over I-85. I-85 is an interstate highway serving a central economic corridor through Atlanta. A portion of the bridge collapsed when a homeless person lit a fire next to highly flammable plastics stored under the bridge, which later grew into a bridge-melting inferno. The state of Georgia provided incentives for contractors to finish the project early due to the incredible economic damage it was causing. The loss of the bridge took out all travel on I-85 - it was a devastating and crippling loss that gave many Atlanta area knowledge workers their first taste of "work from home" (or five hour commutes). The incentives provided absolutely made the contractors hustle. There was work ongoing 24/7 for the entire period, and they completed ahead of time and budget. I don't think I've ever witnessed something happen so fast. It was a marvelous feat, and it's too bad we don't see more like it. It's what happens when the correct incentives and pressures are put in place. https://transportationops.org/case-studies/i-85-bridge-collapse-and-rebuild https://transportationops.org/case-studies/i-85-bridge-colla...
- symfoniq 4y ago
  Incentives, better than anything else, explain how the world actually works.
  - echelon 4y ago
    1000%. It's all about creating and aligning incentives. Government gets this sometimes - subsidy for the things it cares about. Food, energy, defense. Those are all pretty solid, even if some of the vendors aren't the greatest. The sheer scale of the investment means we'll be okay. Too big to fail. Often these big budget items get bloated by congressional sway pulling work into disparate districts as job programs. Or locked away in under-performing incumbents (Lockheed / Boeing vs SpaceX), but if we expose the system to more evolutionary pressure and competition, it might thrive. SpaceX is an example of the RFP process turned on its head. Designing ahead of time for an understood public demand, in a bloated industry, in a way that serves both the public and private sector. A solution where the private sector needs serve to justify the cutting of costs and hone the product into a shape that is undeniably cost attractive and competitive. The things the government subsidizes that don't compete or aren't forced to stay lean - education, transportation, infrastructure, healthcare - tend to bloat up and soak up all the money they can as well as underperform on all of our expectations. Maybe the solution is to stop paying the current service providers and hire new ones that service private industry. They'll already be in a shape to optimize for costs and fend with competition.
- viewtransform 4y ago
  There's also the MacArthur Maze collapse in the Bay area 2007 [1] The overpass collapsed on April 29th. They had it reopened to traffic 26 days later. This was American leadership, project management and engineering at it's finest [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Maze#2007_I-580_East_Connector_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Maze#2007_I-580_East... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TKjwblp1XI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TKjwblp1XI

geenew 4y ago

It has a bearing on the cost associated with road closures, which can't be insignificant. Anyway, some quick looking found: > Gov. Janet Mills toured the Veranda Street site of the new bridge being installed along Interstate 295 in Portland on Saturday afternoon and said she was pleased with the rapid progress of the project. > “I’m thrilled with the technology, thrilled that it’s going on time and on budget,” Mills said. “Three days’ time, and this bridge will be done. It’s amazing. It’s like giant Legos going together.” https://www.pressherald.com/2022/04/23/i-295-bridge-replacement-is-on-track-dot-says/ https://www.pressherald.com/2022/04/23/i-295-bridge-replacem... which seems like enough to go on to presume it's at least close to being on budget.

mym1990 4y ago
You can always say you are on time and on budget as long as extensions come your way. My point was not saying that this project was not on time or on budget, it was mainly to illustrate that the 3 days of work that locals saw was based on 5 years of research and preparation. I recently read 'Built: The Hidden Stories Behind our Structures' by Roma Agrawal and it would be fairly rudimentary for a structural engineer, but for the average passerby it was a very interesting read on some of the structures that we use every day! (and how some of them are miserable failures haha)

echelon 4y ago

The best construction hustle I've ever seen is Georgia's relatively recent repair of a bridge over I-85. I-85 is an interstate highway serving a central economic corridor through Atlanta. A portion of the bridge collapsed when a homeless person lit a fire next to highly flammable plastics stored under the bridge, which later grew into a bridge-melting inferno. The state of Georgia provided incentives for contractors to finish the project early due to the incredible economic damage it was causing. The loss of the bridge took out all travel on I-85 - it was a devastating and crippling loss that gave many Atlanta area knowledge workers their first taste of "work from home" (or five hour commutes). The incentives provided absolutely made the contractors hustle. There was work ongoing 24/7 for the entire period, and they completed ahead of time and budget. I don't think I've ever witnessed something happen so fast. It was a marvelous feat, and it's too bad we don't see more like it. It's what happens when the correct incentives and pressures are put in place. https://transportationops.org/case-studies/i-85-bridge-collapse-and-rebuild https://transportationops.org/case-studies/i-85-bridge-colla...

symfoniq 4y ago
Incentives, better than anything else, explain how the world actually works.
- echelon 4y ago
  1000%. It's all about creating and aligning incentives. Government gets this sometimes - subsidy for the things it cares about. Food, energy, defense. Those are all pretty solid, even if some of the vendors aren't the greatest. The sheer scale of the investment means we'll be okay. Too big to fail. Often these big budget items get bloated by congressional sway pulling work into disparate districts as job programs. Or locked away in under-performing incumbents (Lockheed / Boeing vs SpaceX), but if we expose the system to more evolutionary pressure and competition, it might thrive. SpaceX is an example of the RFP process turned on its head. Designing ahead of time for an understood public demand, in a bloated industry, in a way that serves both the public and private sector. A solution where the private sector needs serve to justify the cutting of costs and hone the product into a shape that is undeniably cost attractive and competitive. The things the government subsidizes that don't compete or aren't forced to stay lean - education, transportation, infrastructure, healthcare - tend to bloat up and soak up all the money they can as well as underperform on all of our expectations. Maybe the solution is to stop paying the current service providers and hire new ones that service private industry. They'll already be in a shape to optimize for costs and fend with competition.
viewtransform 4y ago
There's also the MacArthur Maze collapse in the Bay area 2007 [1] The overpass collapsed on April 29th. They had it reopened to traffic 26 days later. This was American leadership, project management and engineering at it's finest [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Maze#2007_I-580_East_Connector_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Maze#2007_I-580_East... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TKjwblp1XI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TKjwblp1XI