"This is the core of this whole tragedy. It took thousands of excess (and unnecessary) hours to drill for and set these bolts, therefore more taxpayer dollars for worker payroll, foremen, contractors, and, of course, outstretched political palms on up the line......"
Placing anchor bolts through concrete formwork (prior to placement of concrete) may insure a more foolproof anchor, but it is very difficult, time consuming, and therefore expensive, to do it that way.
IMHO innovative engineering could have overcome the necessity of drilling and setting, possibly something like the Sepulveda viaduct below one of the LAX runways, where glass bottles were used as spacers between forms during the pours and were subsequently ripped out with cables, leaving a void space to separate the runway from the viaduct ceiling. However, I question the basic design decision to creat a plenum using heavyweight concrete panels below the ceiling of anything, no matter what the attachment method. Vibration, corrosion (particularly in a near marine environment) and thermal expansion and contraction can ultimately take their toll on fasteners. Lightweight stainless steel panels could have been used, or some other method, perhaps similar to ventilation schemes used in other tunnels.
That is exactly how i think it should have been done. Richmond anchors cost around $7-12 to buy, and I generally use $25 a piece in place. The hilti epoxy cost at least that without installation. At labor rates (all burden included) of around $60/hour, inserting richmond anchors would be the cheapest way to go, and they are a time tested method of anchoring in concrete.