The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

Re:The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure by joshuaheard on Wednesday May 31, 2017 @03:07PM (#14455065)

There is two problems with this theory. The first is that governments have immunity from litigation. They can only be sued where they consent to the lawsuit. The second is that in most states, employee-related injury claims must proceed through a worker's compensation system outside the normal litigation channel where the costs are much less.

I always say there are not too many lawsuits, but too many laws. Legislatures think they are making something better by passing more rules, regulations, and laws. But, for every rule, regulation, or law, you have an opportunity for a lawsuit. Use more common sense? Sure, but then don't pass a multitude of laws regulating the subject.

Why are infrastructure projects' costs higher here? I don't know really. My guess would be that compared to say Germany and Japan, everything here is the U.S. is huge. I mean probably 10-30% larger in size than those other countries with the resulting higher costs. But, this is just my personal observation.

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Re:The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure by afuchs on Wednesday May 31, 2017 @03:41PM (#14455296)

The government and its workers are not immune from litigation either, both have been sued, and successfully held responsible for damages.

Actual construction is performed by contractors, corporations that are contracted by the government. In the US, it is rare for a construction project to be built, or even be designed, by government workers. These corporations and their workers can be sued, and take on additional liabilities due to the contracts and laws that apply specifically to them.

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Re:The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure by Gibbon1 on Wednesday May 31, 2017 @05:24PM (#14456046)

Since my dad worked as an engineer for the Federal Government I have skewed ideas how things work compared to most people.

Which is to say, you are spot on. Most of the work government engineers do is oversight. Oversight is really important.

I've constantly read that in the US due to ideological reasons the agencies that handle oversight are chronically understaffed which results in delays and inefficiencies. Delays are a big problem in the US. The slower a project is done the more it costs. Without proper oversight, you have an inability to efficiently manage design changes leading to delays and or less efficient construction.

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Re:The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure by orthecreedence on Thursday June 01, 2017 @12:39PM (#14461861)

> But, for every rule, regulation, or law, you have an opportunity for a lawsuit

What? Two women suing McDonalds because they got fat from eating too many cheeseburgers is not a regulatory issue. A canoe company being sued for not having lifeguards posted every mile of the river they serve is not a regulatory issue. Parents suing a city because their idiot kid fell off a slide is not a regulatory issue.

America is lawsuit-crazy. Anybody can sue anybody for anything, regardless of whether regulation surrounds the issue or not. If anything, regulation acts as a legal protection against lawsuits, and many regulations are enacted in response to frivolous lawsuits from assholes who think the world owes them something because they can't take personal responsibility.

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Re:The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure by imgabe on Wednesday May 31, 2017 @05:16PM (#14455990)

The government is not the entity that would be sued, this is not about personal injury claims. The contractor or design engineer would be the one who gets sued for design flaws or implementation flaws that lead to costly re-work. They would be getting sued by the government or the owner in the case of a building.

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