I learned something by writing my response, I didn’t know how large the Kola boreholes were and now I do!

Also, thanks for clarifying the distinction between highest and tallest, the span on the Chinese bridge is 2000’ above the ground at certain points but the towers themselves are only 860 feet tall, other bridges have taller towers/pillars but the deck height isn’t as high as this Chinese one.

a) The US is already prosperous. When you have much too lose, your mental trade-offs between gaining something and losing what you have become different.

b) US politics has been dominated by the massive post-war generation. It seems like we drastically stopped building when the boomers had bought their first homes.

Both of these also work for other Western countries that also stopped building.

But the good news is that Musk reached $500 billion net worth, the Gini index be damned. /s

The Democrats simply have no power to stop anything going on. If you think they do, then you don't understand how the government works at all.

Every single thing you mention Democrats doing wrong, is because they have tried to compromise. If one side dictates what everyone else should do, you don't get a functioning country, you get a lot of dissent, and you know what - fucking forget it, you're just too lost to explain any of this to.

Have a nice day.

Not to mention the fuel saved and pollution prevented. And increased economic development for the city.

There's probably a balance to be struck somewhere between the two approaches, but I wouldn't know where it is, as I stay firmly on the frugal side.

As an average, definitely. Whether that is relevant to the area in question I don't know. Materials and fuel costs are rising globally too, China's population-size based buying power shields them from that a little more than some places, far from completely.

Some of the bad investments won't pay back, will get abandoned with demographic change (baked in lower utilization when population drops), but IMO infra serves 10s millions, cuts millions of barrels of oil imports has good chance of paying for itself. Like 2hour -> 2minute infra for 2B rmb = 0.1% of Guizhou GDP. Seems like a no brainer.

Prior generations made these same decisions too. I’ve discovered that the area I live in used to have a fair number of electric trams. They all went away with the advent of the automobile.

In the meantime I would like to see more Hoover Dams and Apollo programs here, with fewer tent cities and high-speed rail boondoggles. This will require a ruling class that 1) is competent and 2) cares for the people it governs.

> Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge

I’ve biked and driven across these bridges many times and I’m quite certain I’ve never heard these names until this moment.

When the light rail line was installed on the I-90 bridge, after the whole thing was done it was discovered that the rail ties were built incorrectly. This was in April 2023. Thousands of concrete ties had to be demolished and construction had to start over. Of course this took years. God forbid that someone should check the work along the way.

If Seattle was a Simpsons character, it would be Ralph Wiggum when he's grown up and has one foot permanently stuck in a bucket.

I realize that Seattle has the only floating bridge with rail on it. Actually my mom is the lead photographer for Sound Transit, the agency in charge with it's development. Sound Transit.. to say the least, is a huge embarrassment for the region. They're way over budget, way behind schedule on all of their initiatives with the lightrail. Sure, there are engineering marvels that exist here and there on the project—but it's not a testament to the U.S's ability to deliver infrastructure at a reasonable speed or budget.

Which basically means that that whole bit of $$ producing tourism infra is that much closer to everything south.

"[...] On February 26, 2014, in the wake of another suicide from the bridge, independent Rep. Joe Brooks of Winterport proposed emergency legislation to the Maine Legislature to require the installation of a suicide barrier on the bridge.[22] This proposal was rejected due to cost, as a barrier was estimated to cost between $500,000 and $1 million, plus additional costs for regular inspections. As an alternative, two solar-powered phones were installed on each end of the bridge in May 2015 which connect users to a suicide hotline. The phones cost $30,000. State officials were aware of instances the phones were not functional, and increased inspections of them to weekly from the previous monthly. They could not determine if the phones were functional when a March 5, 2017 suicide, the first since the phones were installed, occurred. The phones were found to be out of order on June 23, 2017, when an abandoned car on the bridge resulted in a search of the Penobscot River by authorities looking for its driver.[7] The emergency phones on the Penobscot Narrows Bridge were reported out of order following another suicide in 2021.[9][23] They were subsequently replaced.[24] In May 2022, the Maine legislature was reportedly planning to "pull together a study group on suicides by bridge."[25] Funding was subsequently approved for a barrier, but the installation slated for 2024 was delayed for further testing..."

Why are our systems like this? There is no culture of accountability, for one. There is also no desire to dream big, anymore, it seems.

Take a look at (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hambantota_International_Port). Overtly, not owned by the Chinese government but you can draw your own feelings.

This is how western colonization started.

But China still believes that Taiwan (and other places) is theirs.

I think one reason this infrastructure is possible is not just regulations, but first party construction + private companies for construction that can't grab corrupt contracts or overcharge because it's a gov contract. Whereas in the West getting a gov contract is the opposite; it's a business' chance to overcharge to fuck, paid by the public who are too distracted to petty squabbles to care.

I'm a foreigner in the UK and the infra here is ailing. The UK voterbase will complain about rising bills, costs, etc. But will they change the way they vote, will they protest for change, will they actually work together for once to demand value for their tax money? Nah, of course not. Because people would rather argue about which bathroom someone can use, rather than intelligent discussion, fair compromise and moving the fuck on to the next problem.

But the "user experience" of someone driving over the bridge is vastly different, to the point where I know specifically of some people who wouldn't be willing to drive over it, and it's not "hyperbole" to point out how high this bridge is compared to the ground below.