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Sad how close to true this is. I used to work in transportation, and at least the USA* the figure is about $10-40M per mile, with rural highway being cheaper a
by bunderbunder 14y ago
Sad how close to true this is. I used to work in transportation, and at least the USA* the figure is about $10-40M per mile, with rural highway being cheaper and urban highway being more expensive. So $1.6M really could buy you as little as 64 meters of freeway. (Or as much as 1/4 km!)
* Which, I should mention, has a bit of a tradition of cheaping out on the construction. Why worry about the higher maintenance costs when that's going to be your successor's problem? Better to kick that can down the road and brag about how much taxpayer money you're "saving". Ahh, the beauty of the spoils system.
- excuse-me 14y agoHave you considered adopting the British system? You bid out the construction to the cheapest contractor with strict penalties for late completion. But the same company then gets the contract for repair and maintenance for the next 20years! Politicians were shocked when their brand new freeway closed for resurfacing within a month of opening.
- bunderbunder 14y agoCue obligatory quote: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!"
- jessepollak 14y agoWow, that's super interesting. Do you know of any data on whether this has been an effective strategy for keeping costs down?
- Shoomz 14y agoJesse, I think you missed the point. It's like the old Consulting axiom: If you can't be part of the solution, there's good money to be made prolonging the problem.
- jessepollak 14y agoYeah, I'm an idiot. Somehow the last line when in one ear and out the other. Thanks for checking me on that.