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Why We Can’t Figure Out Why Infrastructure Is So Expensive

nymag.com · 1,647 words · saved by 1 readers

Last year, in a provision tucked away in an appropriations bill, Congress instructed the Government Accountability Office to produce a report comparing the construction costs for rail-transit infrastructure projects in the U.S. to those in other advanced countries. Here are the instructions Congress gave last March: Not later than 9 months after the enactment of this act, the GAO shall report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations regarding the construction costs of transit capital projects in the United States in comparison to other developed G-20 nations, such as South Korea, Japan, Spain, France, Italy and Germany. The GAO shall examine potential cost drivers, including: contracting and procurement, project and station design, routing, regulatory barriers, interagency cooperation and legal systems, but not those which are required by Federal law. Sixteen months later, the GAO has produced its report, and it doesn’t actually perform the cost comparisons as instructed. “

This tunnel shouldn’t cost so much. Photo: Chris Melzer/picture alliance via Getty Image Last year, in a provision tucked away in an appropriations bill, Congress instructed the Government Accountability Office to produce a report comparing the construction costs for rail-transit infrastructure projects in the U.S. to those in other advanced countries. Here are the instructions Congress gave last March: Not later than 9 months after the enactment of this act, the GAO shall report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations regarding the construction costs of transit capital projects i

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