“Why does it cost so much to build things in America?” (Vox)
“The 4.3-mile [Green Line] light rail project was estimated to cost $1.12 billion in 2012 — by 2015, that number had nearly tripled.
The researchers were able to identify a few reasons for what happened to the Green Line: Jockeying between two different understaffed agencies with little experience managing large projects and consultants, a laissez-faire approach to allowing stakeholders’ expensive ideas to be added to the project scope ‘even if impractical,’ and public pressure for more as the project dragged on and the demand for transit options increased.”