The need to build new projects and repair old ones is not in dispute. Poor infrastructure costs trillions in foregone growth. A third of America’s bridges are structurally deficient. New structures, such as seawalls and storm barriers, are needed to help mitigate the effects of climate change. But productivity in public-sector construction has stagnated for decades and high costs abound, particularly where transport is concerned.
Leah Brooks, one of the paper’s authors, argues that legal and social changes in the 1970s set the stage for this situation. That decade saw the rise of homeowners’ associations, as well the introduction of legislation requiring more consideration of citizens’ concerns. New judicial doctrines increased the ability of citizens to sue executive agencies. The National Environmental Policy Act , a landmark piece of legislation passed in 1969, delivered valuable environmental protections.
For the Wilson line’s underground sections, its builders choose to do things the hard way. Its stations, like those of New York City’s recently built Second Avenue subway, are unnecessarily large. And instead of digging the stations out from street level in a so-called “cut-and-cover” approach, which is the norm in sensible places like Denmark , the Wilson line’s builders choose to mine them from within a tunnel.