Posted on 03/29/2024 9:22:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Could it really take twice as long and four times as much money to replace the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge than it did to build it in the first place?
The Key Bridge was built at a cost (adjusted for inflation) of about $200 million. Replacing it could take a decade and cost $400 million to $800 million dollars, according to experts in what has become a dismal field.
“To actually recreate that whole transportation network" could take a decade or more, structural engineer Ben Schafer told USA Today on Wednesday. Huge projects, Schafer said, now take “rarely less than 10 years."
Well, they didn't use to.
By comparison, the Apollo program that put a man on the moon required seven years, eight months, and 23 days. And — this is the really exciting part — everything about Apollo, from the massive Saturn V rocket to the "tiny" flight computer, had to be created from scratch. Those seven-and-a-half years included a monthslong delay following the tragic loss of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee during an Apollo 1 dress rehearsal that ended in a deadly crew capsule fire.
Construction began on the Hoover Dam on July 7, 1930, and five years later, it was complete. It started generating electrical power on Sept. 11, 1936 — exactly six years, two months, and four days after the first shovelful of dirt was moved.
The Empire State Building was fully erect (heh) after just one year and 45 days of construction.
But those were all 20th Century projects, back when we used to get things done. Welcome to 21st Century America, where everything is needlessly time-consuming, expensive, stupid, or (most likely) all three.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Some may recall a few years back there was an overpass collapse on an expressway that was critical to traffic movement. The people screamed at the politicians to get that road fixed and get it fixed yesterday! So the politicians bid out the job to a well-known construction guy with a contract that had an early completion clause of some huge amount of money. The guy built the overpass in something like 30 days less than the estimate and subsequently accepted the several million dollar bonus.
Of course then the people screamed about why the bridge cost so much, that the builder was a greedy S.O.B, etc.
The Chinese would have it built in a month or two.
Big Dig 2, Baby, Big Dig 2
> $400 million to $800 million dollars, according to experts
That means 1.6 billion.
These large projects are an endless spigot of money to politicians and the people connected to politicians. There’s money to be made in the planing, design and construction of the bridge. Environmental studies will be done and of course there will need to be a certain percentage of funds allocated to minority owned contractors.
And when the inevitable cost overruns occur they will squeeze the taxpayers for additional monies. It’s all a giant grift and opportunity for the government to overt it’s power over the citizens.
I have already said it. It will not be rebuilt ever. But billions will be spent in the planning.
We’ve sure become jaded, haven’t we? Guess it was a given with all the malarkey we have had to put up with over the past few years...We seemed to have raised several generations of people who live for nothing as much as “being offended” and encouraged by the ??leaders??
>The original project didn’t involve clearing the wreckage of an original bridge
Sounds like a total cluster.
Who Is In Charge of the Salvage in Baltimore?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alpaDfnT-Bk
At this point it’s touch and go whether or not they will clear the wreckage enough to reopen the port. I wouldn’t take bets either way on that.
The mayor is going to insist that they hire his brother's company to work on the bridge. They do nothing. So they'll have to subcontract the work to somebody else who'll actually get the work done.
“Huge projects, Schafer said, now take “rarely less than 10 years.”“
Tell that to the guys who built the Empire State building and they’d be scratching their heads. From an economic and practical view it makes zero sense.
Why build a bridge? Build a tunnel instead.
1st thing that has got to go is the name. I’m sure FSK had to be a slave owner at one time. ~sarc
They can make donations to their favorite political party as a bonus too.
“”Remember its Fed.gov,””
Keep that in mind and save those pennies as they’ll be coming for them regardless of the $$$$ that are available due to one of the bills (who can keep track anymore?) passed for infrastructure - a democrat hobby - $$$ that supposedly haven’t been used...It doesn’t seem logical that DC would let money just lay around without someone slurping it up but who knows? Maybe one day we’ll be surprised but I won’t hold my breath.
One of my favorite stories about what America used to be - the USS Yorktown was hit by a Japanese bomb at the Battle of Coral Sea on May 8, 1942. The bomb exploded 4 levels below deck and killed 66 sailors.
Nonetheless, Yorktown managed to recover its airplanes. After the battle it limped back to Pearl Harbor and arrived May 27
Damage was estimated to take months to repair - but the ship was made battle-ready in 72 hours, and immediately steamed off to Midway, with repair crews still working on the ship.
The decade or more time frame is not due to engineering, technical build issues, or other real-world issues. It’s due to government. So much paperwork. Environmental impact statements. Greasing (mostly Dem) politicians’ palms. You know, Obama’s and Biden’s “America.”
the lamest generation.
God help us if we ever had to mobilize like we did pre-WW2
“”Why build a bridge? Build a tunnel instead.””
I know nothing about Baltimore but didn’t I hear that there are tunnels there already? It seems like there are enough ports to take care if all incoming and outgoing traffic on the East Coast from NY to GA....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.