The below post is an excerpt from a weekly column written by Gregg Easterbrook. Gregg is a phenominal writer. I agree with a lot of his opinions, and you should to.
The federal government is paying almost all the cost to extend Washington's subway system from the Virginia suburbs to Dulles Airport. The new line is entirely above ground -- no costly tunneling involved. Yet the project is slated to take eight years -- the Hoover Dam took five years -- and cost at least $6.8 billion, a stunning $296 million per mile. Bridging the 12-lane Washington Beltway while the Beltway is open is involved, and that's an expensive engineering feat. But most of the project is being built under favorable conditions, on board highway median strips already publicly owned and designed many years ago to accommodate rail construction.
Why is the cost $296 million per mile? Contractors and local authorities are dragging their feet. Since Uncle Sugar is paying, the longer the project takes and the more it costs, the more there is to steal. The federally funded Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has jurisdiction over parts of the project. Recently an official had to resign; she was being paid $180,000 annually for part-time consulting advice. Another official billed taxpayers for such necessities as $9,000 for first-class airfare to Prague. In order to supervise construction in Virginia, you absolutely must fly first class to Czech Republic!
The disheartening part is that neither Democrats nor Republicans in Washington seem to care. The public be damned! And we've only ourselves to blame since next month, practically every politician involved in the mismanagement of public money will be re-elected.
I'm just one man, and I agree with Mr. Easterbrook's opinion.
Thanks for reading,
Dustin Dominiak
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