Before being shut down, the Columbia River Crossing–a consortium of eight government agencies–spent $170 million. The lion’s share of that went to one consulting firm, David Evans and Associates, which was supposed to write the draft and final environmental impact statements for the bridge.
In fact, it turns out that Evans hired a lobbyist to convince the Oregon state legislature to appropriate well over $400 million to built the bridge. But the lobbyist, Patricia McCaig, never registered as a lobbyist or revealed her source of income. Instead, she claimed to be a “special advisor” to the governor.
Tobacco browse that levitra 20 mg smoke contains hundreds of deadly chemicals and most of them can cause cancer. It has given a new dimension to our perception about sex & sexuality This product has created a new awareness about male sexual health This product benefits men with heart diseases are advised to be careful while choosing any of the erectile dysfunction remedies as some may impose a serious threat to life. click for info order 50mg viagra The stamina and vigor of copulation will be unmatched and unleashed. http://pdxcommercial.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/B39-New-Brochure.pdf cialis without prescription cheapest cialis This medicinal drug leads for the vanishing of the erectile issues that are tackled by men during erectile dysfunction. Although McCaig’s true job was made public by Willamette Week last February, no one in the state government did anything about this likely violation of Oregon’s lobbying law until after the legislature adjourned. Now, the Oregon State Ethics Commission says it is investigating McCaig for possibly violation of eight different laws. It seems likely that Evans also hired someone to lobby the Washington state legislature, which narrowly defeated a bill providing funds to the project.
The dark nature of the consulting world–where government agencies overpay consultants to do various analyses and then the consultants promote the projects–always seemed apparent. But this is the first case in the Northwest at least where a consultant was caught redhanded covertly spending money lobbying for an expensive project. This is just one more reason why government should avoid doing megaprojects like the Columbia River Crossing, which involved a bridge, a light-rail line, reconstruction of numerous highway intersections, and other work.
The Antiplanner wrote:
This is just one more reason why government should avoid doing megaprojects like the Columbia River Crossing, which involved a bridge, a light-rail line, reconstruction of numerous highway intersections, and other work.
I respectfully disagree, in part. Government can (and in some cases should) do transportation megaprojects – or at least hire and manage the appropriate private-sector firms to do the work.
We have many megaprojects across the U.S. and around the world that came in reasonably on-schedule and on-budget, including this one (which is largely complete) – however, usually not involving passenger rail lines, which always seem to cost more and take longer to complete and open for patrons to use (latest example here).
I am not opposed to such projects being done by private or semi-private concessions or public-private partnerships either – that is how many segments of the French Autoroute system (including this magnificent project) were constructed and are operated. Closer to home, the HOV/toll lanes on I-495 in Fairfax County, Virginia were done by a public-private partnership.
I understand the Governor, Governor Kitzhaber, has an Innovation Council organized. The purported purpose, to advise the Governor on innovations that the State should invest in.
Perhaps there is a new technology that proponents of light-rail may want to look at. It involves autonomous vehicles that are self-propelled, and capable of using the existing network of streets and roads to provide transit for those who are looking for an alternative to personal automobile ownership.
Had they relied upon this new technology, instead of what, at best, can be referred to as 19th-Century technology, perhaps agreement could have been the result in planning for the new bridge. Has anyone referred this new technology to the Governor’s office?
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Hope they refer to the wMATA lesson’s learned #243: “Include extra $millions for ‘stink mitigation'” Yesterday people were literally covering their noses with their hands the stink in L’Enfant was so bad!!!!
OFP2003 wrote:
Yesterday people were literally covering their noses with their hands the stink in L’Enfant was so bad!!!!
Though I am often in Washington, D.C., and do ride the Metrorail system sometimes, I don’t ride that way very often, and I have not had the, umm, sensory experiences you describe.
Why not share those experiences here?
One who would strongly disagree that. “Government should” build megaprojects. The Interstate Highway System was their best megaproject cause it was not built all at once. It took decades and was financed using the means that only the highway users would pay. Government “had” a history of megaprojects that came in on time or on budget. The Hoover Dam, the Grand Coulee Dam, the Golden Gate Bridge .
Before being fired by General Electric ,Ronald Reagan said “the Tennessee Valley was periodically ravaged by destructive floods. The Army Engineers set out to solve this problem. They said that it was possible that once in 500 years there could be a total capacity flood that would inundate some 600,000 acres (2,400 km2). Well, the engineers fixed that. They made a permanent lake which inundated a million acres (4,000 km²). This solved the problem of floods, but the annual interest on the TVA debt is five times as great as the annual flood damage they sought to correct. Of course, you will point out that TVA gets electric power from the impounded waters, and this is true, but today 85 percent of TVA’s electricity is generated in coal burning steam plants. Now perhaps you’ll charge that I’m overlooking the navigable waterway that was created, providing cheap barge traffic, but the bulk of the freight barged on that waterway is coal being shipped to the TVA steam plants, and the cost of maintaining that channel each year would pay for shipping all of the coal by rail, and there would be money left over.”
So this begs the paradoxical question, “If the state can’t afford, should they spend to build it?” We gripe about the cost of rail projects raking in the billions. But for most, they’re largely small. the 10 costliest public works in the US were highway and bridge projects.
1: Big Dig (1992-2006), Boston, Massachusetts, $14.6 billion
2: Oakland Bay Bridge East Span Replacement (2002-2013), San Francisco $6.3 billion
3: Mon-Fayette Expressway (1988-2012), Pennsylvania $5.0 billion
4: Ohio River Bridges Project (2005-2020), Louisville, Kentucky, southern Indiana, $4.1 billion
5: Central Texas Turnpike (2001-2007), Area Around Austin, Texas, $3.6 billion
6: Woodrow Wilson Bridge Replacement (1999-2008), Washington, D.C. $2.5 billion
7: Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel, 2012-2015, Seattle, $2 billion – $4 billion
8: Interstate 69 Extension (2008-2018), Indiana, $1.8 billion.
9: I-95 New Haven Harbor Corridor Reconstruction (2001-2016), Connecticut, $1.4 billion
10: E-470 (1991-2003), Denver, Colorado, $1.2 billion
LazyReader wrote:
One who would strongly disagree that. “Government should” build megaprojects.
Your comments are fair, so I am paying attention.
The Interstate Highway System was their best megaproject cause it was not built all at once. It took decades and was financed using the means that only the highway users would pay. Government “had” a history of megaprojects that came in on time or on budget. The Hoover Dam, the Grand Coulee Dam, the Golden Gate Bridge .
And the federal government had 52 partners (all 50 state highway/transportation agencies, plus the their counterparts in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) in building the Interstate system, plus toll road/toll crossing agencies in some states.
But why was the Interstate system successfully built? And there were plenty of things that were done wrong, even though the overall product was good. Are infrastructure builders today dumber than those of the 1950’s through 1970’s? I would assert the answer is no.
Regarding the list of projects above, do you classify them all as failures? I know the Big Dig was massively over budget, and some of the others have been late in getting completed. But for most of them, I don’t know enough of the details.
Dumber, no….maybe?
It’s that government is bigger than it used to be. The old saying “the enemy to innovation is bureaucracy” To need 20 underlings to permit the opening of one store. That’s something Walmart can put up with, but a small operation? When permitting processes can cost a hundred thousand dollars, Walmart can put up with that, can a small business?
The other problem is the notion of federal money which in the eyes of statesmen appear infinite. “When action is divorced from consequences, no one is happy with the ultimate outcome. If individuals can take from a common pot regardless of how much they put in it, each person has an incentive to be a free rider, to do as little as possible and take as much as possible because what one fails to take will be taken by someone else. Soon, the pot is empty and will not be refilled a bad situation even for the earlier takers.” When states take federal money they’re doing something rather rash. They’re taking from taxpayers in other states to fuel what may not be necessary. Worse off they demand more money than what’s necessary; things that cost a dollar end costing two dollars. No where in America do you get a dollars worth of service for a dollars worth of taxation.
Public misbehavior by the famous/infamous is a powerful teaching tool. When a politician is caught using funds for personal reasons he goes to jail, what happens to his constituents. In the private sector, incompetence, laziness, carelessness, wrecklessness or wastefulness will get you fired. In the public sector, no one ever gets fired.
LazyReader, I don’t know where you got that list of 10 most costly but it doesn’t make sense. For example, the Denver airport should be on there. e470 while ownded by a government body, a highway authority was not paid for with state nor federal funds nor paid for with taxes ( 100% financed by tolls; ran by a private corp. ).
DIA cost @$7.5 billion in constant dollars.
And several urban rail projects would easily surpass at least the lower members of that Top 10 list.
The MAX Orange Line in Portland is your new #9. $1.5B for 7 miles of low-capacity rail and a “car-free” bridge.