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World's Longest Sea Bridge Opens After 9 Years of Construction (go.com)
Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated China's latest mega-infrastructure project on Tuesday: The world's longest sea crossing. From a report: The 34.2-mile bridge and tunnel that have been almost a decade in the making for the first time connect the semi-autonomous cities of Hong Kong and Macau to the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai by road. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge spans the mouth of the Pearl River and significantly cuts the commuting time between the three cities. The previously four-hour drive between Zhuhai and Hong Kong will now take 45 minutes. One section of the crossing dives underwater into a 4.2 mile tunnel that creates a channel above for large cargo ship containers to pass through. The project came in over budget -- with Hong Kong alone investing $15 billion in it -- and delayed, as it was originally slate to open in 2016.
To bring us this bridge...
Hopefully it doesn't have an exposed thermal exhaust port.
America doesn't build great infrastructure like this anymore. We're broke and getting more in debt every day. Stock market collapsing, recession right around the corner due to self-imposed tarrif damage. We need a bridge out of this place.
Is still not that bad for a 34 mile bridge considering here in the states a single bridge that spans a river can cost close to a billion.
To many migrants issues.
Is still not that bad for a 34 mile bridge considering here in the states a single bridge that spans a river can cost close to a billion.
It has been dubbed the "bridge of death" by some local media. At least nine workers on the Hong Kong side have died and officials told BBC News Chinese that nine had died on the mainland side, too.
We could do the same if worker safety weren't an issue either. And let's also remember their cost of capital is much less, too. And then there are none of those pesky job killing environmental regulations that protect people's health and the local environment. Of course, destroying the environment also destroys jobs in the fishing and tourism industries for examples; so environmental regulations preserve jobs in the end.
Mercantilism can go far but in the end, it bites you in the ass right up to the bung hole.
A 20 billion dollar bridge is a win?
Quite possibly yes. It connects some locations that are financially very important both locally and globally. Sure it will take quite a while to pay off (presuming it does) but I could see it being a net economic benefit overall. The Big Dig in Boston cost $24 billion so we're not in uncharted territory cost wise.
800 million/year...US$15,220/lanehour...
They are expecting roughly 29,100 vehicle crossings per day which is 10,950,000 crossings per year so accepting your math that would be ballpark $8/crossing. If it saves the amount of time the article claims they'll make the $800M back in fuel savings alone (3+ hours driving saved) irrespective of the value of the cargo carried and economic development resulting from the bridge. The real value in this bridge will probably be in the cargo and tourists it carries.
So yeah, it's a lot of money but one can make an economic case for it.
We could do the same if worker safety weren't an issue either.
You need to have a balance. If you spend billions on safety measures that only save a handful of lives, then you can afford far less infrastructure, which means stunted economic growth, which leads to worse healthcare, nutrition, and poverty, all of which lower life expectancy. So you end up killing more people than you save.
The tradeoff between safety and cost is going to be different for a developing country like China that it is in a 1st world country like America.
If you really believe in absolute safety and any cost, then the only answer is to never build or do anything.
Hong Kong will revert back to full Chinese control in a few decades, and this bridge is them literally extending their reach to the island, and making their presence and influence felt as early as possible.
Vox Borders has a great video about the larger political tensions and strategies that this bridge is a part of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
11 people died during construction of the Golden Gate bridge. And that is considered pretty good. So yeah.
We already build most of our giant infrastructure projects years ago.
Your statement implies there is no further need for large infrastructure projects in the US which is plainly not true. Furthermore we have done a rather shitty job of maintaining the infrastructure we have and our public transit options (especially trains) are terrible in most of the country. Our power infrastructure needs rather substantial updating and modernization. Ask Flint Michigan it it's a good idea to never upgrade your water pipes for a century.
Infrastructure isn't something you build once and never worry about again. For a society to grow it needs to keep investing in it in ways both big and small.
We could do the same if worker safety weren't an issue either.
We are doing the same thing because worker safety isn't an issue; that's what evacuating half our industrial base to Asia since the 90's has been about. That and avoiding our own environmental regulations.
And don't climb on your usual self righteous high horse unless your smart phone, laptop etc. wasn't also built in China, Taiwan, SK, et al. You are literally the problem here.
Jeff Bezos is not broke. Bill Gates is not broke. The US has plenty of money, it's just concentrated in the hands of a few private individuals.
And I think that's a factor in the rise of populism. We see those people getting fabulously wealthy and we're told all you have to do is work hard enough and success is all but guaranteed.
But the very very hard working person just keeps getting more and more behind. Education, medical, housing and even food costs are increasing faster than their incomes - especially when their incomes are declining.
I'm sure some STEM guy in Silly Valley is going to make some comment about "Literature degrees" or something, but I'd point out that following that rational, if one must have a STEM degree to make a decent living, then we're in a heap of trouble. It'd be like saying just get a Medical Doctor degree and all is well; what's your problem?!
By having the bifurcated society where you either making a great living or barely scraping by (no middle class and no hope of moving up with hard work); we are truly screwed - and that's where we as a society are just about now.
It's easy to brush others aside and just say, "they made the wrong decisions" but the fact is that rational people make the best decisions on the opportunities available to them. No one ever thinks, "I'm going to make the wrong decision."
And with choices being but varying shades of gray and many options that have their own pros and cons, saying there are "right" and "wrong" choices and decisions is just childish thinking.
They certainly are some industrious yellow ants, aren't they.
I'm sure this is a fine example of the superiority of Chinese metallurgy.
Like the magnificent new Bay Bridge which is already rusting towards catastrophe.
Never change.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Ask Venezuela. Think they have some relevant experience in this hypothetical scenario.
Nazi architecture for the 21st century.
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
We could do the same if worker safety weren't an issue either.
You need to have a balance. If you spend billions on safety measures that only save a handful of lives, then you can afford far less infrastructure, which means stunted economic growth, which leads to worse healthcare, nutrition, and poverty, all of which lower life expectancy. So you end up killing more people than you save.
The tradeoff between safety and cost is going to be different for a developing country like China that it is in a 1st world country like America.
If you really believe in absolute safety and any cost, then the only answer is to never build or do anything.
Your are completely wrong - on all levels.
If human life is that cheap to you,then so be it. And is it to me too. There are billions of Chinese to be used and abused. And Indians. And others ...
i don't have a problem and neither do you - ...
Human life is a commodity. Capitalism has proven it. And there are 2 billion chinks to use and abuse and ....
Sea bridge. Sea bridge cross. Cross bridge cross!
In Boston, it takes that long to paint the Tobin bridge.
Is still not that bad for a 34 mile bridge considering here in the states a single bridge that spans a river can cost close to a billion.
It has been dubbed the "bridge of death" by some local media. At least nine workers on the Hong Kong side have died and officials told BBC News Chinese that nine had died on the mainland side, too.
That is better though than the Hoover Dam of Death (>100), or our own Brooklyn Bridge of Death (24), or the worst construction project in U.S. history the the Hawksnest Tunnel (476-1000). But worker safety standards are higher now, even in China.
Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
Humans are a renewable resource. So much so that about 60% of the population today is in fact overpopulation