<story><title>How the US can stop wasting billions of dollars on each transit project</title><url>https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgym5j/heres-how-the-us-can-stop-wasting-billions-of-dollars-on-each-transit-project</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>JCM9</author><text>The environmental review process is also horribly broken in the US. In practice it does relatively little to protect the environment and adds enormous cost and complexity to projects. Important needed infrastructure is held up for years, sometimes decades, in lengthy court battles that frequently don’t meaningfully alter the proposals. In the end the same project is built but at 2-3x the cost.&lt;p&gt;We should, of course, protect the environment but we’ve gotta find a way to do that which is efficient and doesn’t waste public funds (where that current waste ironically could then be diverted into meaningful projects to protect the environment!).</text></comment>
<story><title>How the US can stop wasting billions of dollars on each transit project</title><url>https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgym5j/heres-how-the-us-can-stop-wasting-billions-of-dollars-on-each-transit-project</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>onphonenow</author><text>Watch McDonald’s put up a restaurant.&lt;p&gt;I went to school and they changed zoning along this big road where I lived. When I can back from winter break it was unrecognizable and the stores were open.&lt;p&gt;Now in CA - voted for high speed rail and was absolutely promised it would not go over budget. The first contractor quit in disgust SNCF and started doing projects in Africa saying they were less dysfunctional :)&lt;p&gt;Most recent audit committee reports are that everything is on track. We will see&lt;p&gt;One argument on ballot was 10 years of planning went into project before ballot - so starting 1998 or so - 24 years later now</text></comment>