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Here in Texas, they tend to build bridges over existing roadways one side at a time and divert traffic to the other side temporarily.

Here in Texas, they build bridges largely out of pre-cast beams, rather than casting them in place. Casting in place has the significant benefit of employing dozens of extra workers, all of whom will vote for more of the same.

A great comparison between California hwy construction vs. Texas hwy construction is the 8 years it took to build a single connection between I-880 and Cal 237 and the less than 4 years it took to build the entire "High-Five" interchange between I-635 and US-75 in Dallas.

California loves their make-work, long-duration highway construction projects. With the single exception of I-35, Texas prefers completed highway projects.

I've lived both places. If you like California, please stay there.

I didn't know they also cast the beams in place. Could that be because of earthquake issues? Regardless, they could still do one side at a time and not risk a major traffic disruption.

And US75 broth of Dallas also seems to be under perpetual widening...

Here in Texas, they build bridges largely out of pre-cast beams, rather than casting them in place. Casting in place has the significant benefit of employing dozens of extra workers, all of whom will vote for more of the same.

Here in California, we have big ass earthquakes, And tend to build stuff to withstand those, so typically the stuff is bigger, stronger, more expensive, and take longer to build.