Why are American infrastructure projects so expensive?

2012-02-13 22:34:07

#1

Hurricane2k9: Pendulous Sweaty Balls; +1,538|5941|College Park, MD

Mexico is building a 140-mile superhighway with 62 tunnels and 135 bridges over very difficult terrain. Cost? $1.5 billion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/new … story.html

In Maryland, we built an 18-mile highway over very gentle and easy land for... $2.6 billion.

Why the drastic difference in cost-per-mile? The highway in Maryland (Route 200, better known as the ICC) is shorter and does not navigate particularly difficult terrain and yet it costs nearly twice as much as a highway that's over 7 times as long and travels much more difficult terrain. I somehow doubt that the quality is tons better, either.

https://static.bf2s.com/files/user/36793/marylandsig.jpg

2012-02-13 22:35:03

#2

Adams_BJ: Russian warship, go fuck yourself; +2,054|6862|Little Bentcock

Contract workers charge less.

2012-02-13 22:53:43

#3

Turquoise: O Canada; +1,596|6644|North Carolina

Labor is cheaper and regulations are fewer in Mexico.

2012-02-13 22:55:07

#4

mtb0minime: minimember; +2,418|6894

See, the politicians earmark a whole lot of tax payer money to use on projects near them and hire their corporate contractor buddies to do the work who charge an arm and a leg so they can make big bucks and funnel a bit of that back to the politician.

But also this

Turquoise wrote:
Labor is cheaper and regulations are fewer in Mexico.

lolmexicanengineering

Last edited by mtb0minime (2012-02-13 22:55:44)

2012-02-13 22:55:58

#5

-Sh1fty-: plundering yee booty; +510|5713|Ventura, California

stupid regulations

And above your tomb, the stars will belong to us.

2012-02-13 22:57:22

#6

mtb0minime: minimember; +2,418|6894

-Sh1fty- wrote:
stupid regulations

Stupid protecting human life.

2012-02-13 23:10:38

#7

Miggle: FUCK UBISOFT; +1,411|6981|FUCK UBISOFT

we have less beheadings here. It is worth it.

2012-02-13 23:19:31

#8

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5418|Sydney

Try living in Mexico and see which you prefer. I don't think you'll be too concerned about the price comparison of infrastructure.

2012-02-13 23:20:39

#9

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6392|what

Why haven't you guys built a speed rail from coast to coast?

Air travel is just that much cheaper I guess.

2012-02-13 23:28:26

#10

mtb0minime: minimember; +2,418|6894

AussieReaper wrote:
Why haven't you guys built a speed rail from coast to coast?

Air travel is just that much cheaper I guess.

And more of a pain in the ass. It wouldn't be America without unnecessary inconveniences and pains in the ass!

e: Notice how I'm pretty smart for American since I know that the plural of "pain in the ass" is "pains in the ass" and not "pain in the asses".

Last edited by mtb0minime (2012-02-13 23:29:01)

2012-02-13 23:39:59

#11

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6392|what

mtb0minime wrote:
AussieReaper wrote:
Why haven't you guys built a speed rail from coast to coast?

Air travel is just that much cheaper I guess.
And more of a pain in the ass. It wouldn't be America without unnecessary inconveniences and pains in the ass!

e: Notice how I'm pretty smart for American since I know that the plural of "pain in the ass" is "pains in the ass" and not "pain in the asses".

It's arse you tit.

Rail has it's advantages. Especially if you want day to day travel between cities that are relatively close.

What does Mexico need with a highway anyway? Does it lead straight to the US border?

2012-02-13 23:50:02

#12

Turquoise: O Canada; +1,596|6644|North Carolina

AussieReaper wrote:
mtb0minime wrote:
AussieReaper wrote:
Why haven't you guys built a speed rail from coast to coast?

Air travel is just that much cheaper I guess.
And more of a pain in the ass. It wouldn't be America without unnecessary inconveniences and pains in the ass!

e: Notice how I'm pretty smart for American since I know that the plural of "pain in the ass" is "pains in the ass" and not "pain in the asses".
It's arse you tit.

Rail has it's advantages. Especially if you want day to day travel between cities that are relatively close.

What does Mexico need with a highway anyway? Does it lead straight to the US border?

We have rail for the Northeast, but that's one of the few areas where the cities are close enough to make it competitive with flying.

The Southeast, Midwest, and Interior West don't really fit that. Some of California does though.

2012-02-14 00:04:31

#13

-Sh1fty-: plundering yee booty; +510|5713|Ventura, California

AussieReaper wrote:
Why haven't you guys built a speed rail from coast to coast?

Air travel is just that much cheaper I guess.

Yeah that would be pretty sweet. Taking planes is such a hassle.

And above your tomb, the stars will belong to us.

2012-02-14 00:07:29

#14

Dilbert_X: The X stands for; +1,815|6345|eXtreme to the maX

Americans are lazy and overpaid.

Fuck Israel

2012-02-14 02:24:50

#15

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6955

Dilbert_X wrote:
Americans are lazy and overpaid.

Aussies are not much better lol 100 bil to build Brisbane syd melb high speed lol

https://cache.www.gametracker.com/server_info/203.46.105.23:21300/b_350_20_692108_381007_FFFFFF_000000.png

2012-02-14 02:41:12

#16

FEOS: Bellicose Yankee Air Pirate; +1,182|6650|'Murka

Turquoise wrote:
Labor is cheaper and regulations are fewer in Mexico.

Spot on. It's a really simple equation.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein
Doing the popular thing is not always right. Doing the right thing is not always popular

2012-02-14 02:43:04

#17

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6955

FEOS wrote:
Turquoise wrote:
Labor is cheaper and regulations are fewer in Mexico.
Spot on. It's a really simple equation.

Should look at ppp costs rather than nominal.

2012-02-14 02:48:40

#18

globefish23: sophisticated slacker; +334|6563|Graz, Austria

-Sh1fty- wrote:
stupid regulations

Yeah, it was much better in the old days...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_dam … ion_deaths

Using gasoline-fueld vehicles in 140°F hot tunnels and then covering up carbon monoxide poisoning as pneumonia to avoid paying compensations should really not be regulated.

2012-02-14 02:52:47

#19

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5418|Sydney

It's ok, it is shifty that made the comment.

2012-02-14 02:54:01

#20

FEOS: Bellicose Yankee Air Pirate; +1,182|6650|'Murka

Cybargs wrote:
FEOS wrote:
Turquoise wrote:
Labor is cheaper and regulations are fewer in Mexico.
Spot on. It's a really simple equation.
Should look at ppp costs rather than nominal.

According to the all-knowing wiki, the PPP in Mexico is 70% of the US:

Mexican project: $10,714,285.71/mile

US project: $144,444,444.44/mile

Going by PPP alone, the Mexican project should cost $101,111,111.11/mile

Or conversely, the US project should cost $15,306,122.44/mile

Clearly, PPP differences are not the driving factor in cost differences.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein
Doing the popular thing is not always right. Doing the right thing is not always popular

2012-02-14 03:13:34

#21

Spearhead: Gulf coast redneck hippy; +731|6929|Tampa Bay Florida

I'm very glad shifty and hurricane want to turn us to turn into mexico. Enjoy your drugs and carcasses hanging from bridges. Or was that Iraq?

2012-02-14 06:49:33

#22

Hurricane2k9: Pendulous Sweaty Balls; +1,538|5941|College Park, MD

Spearhead wrote:
I'm very glad shifty and hurricane want to turn us to turn into mexico. Enjoy your drugs and carcasses hanging from bridges. Or was that Iraq?

>implying cheaper projects will turn the USA into gangland

2012-02-14 14:17:02

#23

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|7011|PNW

There's a lot of stuff we do per mile on highway projects aside from simply paving a road from point A to point B, like traffic delineation, on/offramps, overpasses, retaining walls, raised sections, concrete sections, drainage ditches, erosion control, lighting and signage (which is more expensive than you'd think). We also have an incredible amount of traffic on many of these, so they have to be thick and durable.

Companies raise their prices to account for taxes for a number of government entities and a myriad of regulation costs, starting at production of stuff like rock, gravel, oil and chemicals. This moves all the way down the line to construction itself, for which workers get paid prevailing wage on public projects, driving up contractor prices to work on these projects. And in order to compensate for this, the government has to take it out of people and businesses through taxes and tolls. And to compensate for that, the businesses simply raise their prices to keep their profit margin stable.

If people want to go back to the good old days of foul labor practices and irresponsible waste disposal, good luck with that. Some businesses don't implement safety/environmental practices because they don't know about them or think they don't have time to address them, and will only pay attention when "big brother" steps in and forces them to take heed.

BF2S Forums Why are American infrastructure projects so expensive?

Turquoise wrote:

-Sh1fty- wrote:

AussieReaper wrote:

mtb0minime wrote:

AussieReaper wrote:

AussieReaper wrote:

mtb0minime wrote:

AussieReaper wrote:

AussieReaper wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:

Turquoise wrote:

FEOS wrote:

Turquoise wrote:

-Sh1fty- wrote:

Cybargs wrote:

FEOS wrote:

Turquoise wrote:

Spearhead wrote:

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