Too slow, too expensive and defective
If we had to build the pyramids today we couldn't get it done. At least not in the US, or Germany, two countries that once were proud of their infrastructure, ingenuity and engineering prowess The Hoover Dam, the autobahn, the transcontinental railroad, the ICE trains and the man on the moon: All engineering marvels admired around the world.
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World Trade Center transit hub by Calatrava: $4bn
(Photo: Philipsen) |
And today: The San Francisco TransBay transit center required temporary support beams right after it opened. The Calatrava World Trade Center hub opened 10 years late and at double the cost, with $4bn it is said to be the world's most expensive subway station. The Berlin airport opened nine(!) years after it was technically finished for massive problems in the fire and safety systems (How the Berlin airport became one of the biggest engineering failures). Thus it became the laughingstock of the world.
My personal experience is a different type of failure in which infrastructure becomes a political football. The $2.9bn light rail transit project was planned for 13 years at the tune of some $230 million for studies and design alone, only to be abandoned when Maryland elected a Republican Governor, putting nearly $1bn federal funds back on the table. Two decades earlier I had worked on a smaller rail transit project in the same jurisdictions which was built on schedule and in record time.... READ FULL ARTICLE
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[Klaus] Philipsen FAIA
Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects
Baltimore MD
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