15 Comments

Re: Canada "building world class infrastructure Canada, and keeping it in top working condition...not true. Ontario has failed to keep up with huge population increases and currently prefers building mega highways and transit that supports urban sprawl, including paving our remaining urban natural areas and farmland. Definitely not "world class"!

Expand full comment

If the liberals didn't insist on bringing in 400,000 immigrants every year and falling to assist with housing and infrastructure requirements. They assume that every province will just adjust for this massive growth. Quebec is fine as they get the extra $11 billion every year!

Expand full comment

Here is a Chinese bridge design that wouldn't necessarily work for a road bridge https://youtu.be/vc1-iAUGJMA

Expand full comment

1 ) Miami bridge collapse was an engineering design flaw https://aashtojournal.org/2019/10/25/ntsb-calculation-errors-caused-miami-pedestrian-bridge-collapse/

2) Construction costs for New York subway driven by local interests….known to be some of highest $/km globally

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/nyc-subway-construction-costs-highest-in-world/514041/

Expand full comment

Should have hired the CCP they would have finished it in a fraction of the time and $ and pay them in recycled plastic and steel.

Expand full comment

Federal and State governments employ close to 20 million people in the US. At the average salary of $90,000 that's 2 trillion $ every year. The cost of inefficiency and waste could easily pay for improving infrastructure. But we have to look at raising taxes to pay for minimal improvements in road and bridges. Democrats always want to spend more and never want to reduce waste. Bigger government is always better , right.

Expand full comment

An average salary of $90,000!? The direct care staff I worked with, comprising over 75% of the employees, did well to earn $15,000. And the majority did an outstanding job! I was a professional and never came close to $90,000.

Expand full comment

Looks like it's now closer to 109,000 average, https://tinyurl.com/2p8bac5a that means there are many that are making more than $250,000. You can't live in Washington for anything less

Expand full comment

Great comments thanks 🙏👍👍

Expand full comment

Its laughable to blame public bids for infrastructure fails. The low bid process has zero impact on the quality of new construction projects in the US. The specifications, drawings, inspections, and acceptance tests are so rigid that any low bid contractor is going to provide the exact same work as the high bid. Falling bridges, pot holes, and ratty subways are a maintenance issue. Govt transportation authorities are grossly inefficient vs the private sector and thus the spectacle of the average state road crew consisting of 3 safety nazis, 4 foreman, and 5 laborers watching one person work. And of course the over riding issue is the failure of the country to generate wealth. This is because of the folly of Green Energy, Stakeholder Capitalism, and a bloated "safety" bureaucracy. Drill, Baby, Drill. China is burning coal and anything else it can find to feed a huge engine driving their progress....and we are praying at windmills.

Expand full comment

Excellent points Diane about the US. I’m surprised Canada is ahead of the U S in infrastructure satisfaction. To me, US highways are vastly superior to Canada’s. The Trans Canada is a joke and embarrassment especially the stretch from eastern Manitoba through Northern Ontario with its 2 lanes. Even the 4 lanes through Manitoba have too many traffic lights and too few on-and-off ramps. Obviously, Canadians don’t care enough about that.

I’m surprised New Yorkers tolerate such a dilapidated subway system.

Expand full comment

Why is America a mess? Just follow the money - if you can.

Who's getting rich from all that infrastructure spending? No doubt it is the "insiders" and unnecessary middlemen (and women) whose palms need constant greasing.

No oversight, no audits, no accountability, no integrity.

Another reason why democracy is losing.

Expand full comment

If one is cheap and procrastinates with infrastructure it costs more in the end.

Expand full comment

I would love to see a survey on people's satisfaction of our Public Service agencies. Always well funded, well educated work forces who should be able to design and implement processes that result in the efficient delivery of services. Instead, we continue to build more complex systems that perform poorly. We detest, for good reason, monopolistic enterprises, but allow them to exist in the Public Service. Why? Are we spending too much time laying he blame only on our Political masters?

Expand full comment

That was a non-partisan passage.

Expand full comment