High Speed Rail System

[buster]

There's multiple levels of failure here. The cost to build literally anything in the US is many times that in all other countries. Subways, bridges, roads, it doesn't matter. There are multiple compounding reasons for this (things like cost-plus contracts) and labor rules that often require many, many more workers present than are actually necessary to do the work.

Yeah unfortunately a lot of that is true. What a joke. While we bicker, many others are building.

 

[Hermann]

The last 27 and counting road work sites I have passed, not a single person has been working. I forgive 11a to 2p for lunch break. That is why I never vote for a gas tax increase.

 

[buster]

The last 27 and counting road work sites I have passed, not a single person has been working. I forgive 11a to 2p for lunch break. That is why I never vote for a gas tax increase.

Here in NJ it takes years to complete road projects that should only take weeks. It's absurd!

 

[PandaBear]

There's multiple levels of failure here. The cost to build literally anything in the US is many times that in all other countries. Subways, bridges, roads, it doesn't matter. There are multiple compounding reasons for this (things like cost-plus contracts) and labor rules that often require many, many more workers present than are actually necessary to do the work.

The big cost is idle labor. The big cost is lawsuit.

Someone got fined and sued because a "safety" person is not there do inspect or holding a sign? Fine. Someone got hurt when a "safety protocol" is not followed? Shutdown and lawsuit.

Just by having inspector to come and check things out before another step can happen means you have delay. They don't like paying for delay so they hire fewer people to keep them occupied. The same goes for most construction company for remodeling. They come work on it for a few steps, then move the people to another site while waiting for the next step, or inspection, or funding, then they send another team to continue.

There was one remodeling I did that should have taken only 3 days with no inspection and permit. Somehow the tenants don't like that and call inspection to show up and that stalled the project for 7 days because they didn't come as they promised, and then the tenants have to live with the emergency repair getting dragged on and not able to wrap up quickly (bathtub leak, tore down bathroom to find out root cause, they end up in an AirBnB for 1 extra week).

It is unavoidable in a developed world, and it add cost.

 

[buster]

The U.S. Is Not Ready for High Speed Rail

The U.S. already has 140,000 miles of perfectly good regular train tracks. Let’s start with what we have.

www.vice.com

 

[Malo83]

Farmers Ire,

https://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article223441880.html

 

[Pew]

The last 27 and counting road work sites I have passed, not a single person has been working. I forgive 11a to 2p for lunch break. That is why I never vote for a gas tax increase.

Oh it's bad in IL - things take FOREVER to fix unless it's on a tollway. The I-90/I-250 interchange in Chicago has been under construction for as long as I can remember and is supposed to go on for at least another 20 years. I never see anybody working on it, although I avoid that area like the plague during the day because of construction. Usually most road construction here is 1 person holding a sign, 1 person working, and 3 others looking at the person working. Another reason stuff takes so long here is to drag out construction processes so the workers have year-long pay - at the expense of everybody else who has to drive through the garbage.