What killed the US super-project?

The Big Dig: The last US super-project?

New York Times architecture writer, Louis Uchitelle, has slammed the US construction industry saying that "for the first time in memory, the nation has no outsize public works project under way."

In his article "Entering the Super-project Void", Uchitelle says that in each generation, "giant public works projects have altered the American landscape. The Erie Canal and the transcontinental railroad come to mind.

"So do massive urban sewer and sanitation systems, the Tennessee Valley Authority, rural electrification, the Hoover Dam, the Interstate System, the subway networks in San Francisco and Washington, the Big Dig in Boston ... and the list abruptly stops."

He cites the The Big Dig (three and a half miles of underground highways channeling traffic beneath downtown Boston) as the last "big" American super-project and that was completed in December 2007, the month the economic downturn began, so is America's lack of mega-projects purely financially motivated or is there something else holding the US back?

Permanent wealth

Uchitelle states how in Obama's stimulus package only $80 billion (a tenth of the total) has been put aside for mega-projects, whilst the majority of it will go on repairing existing public works such as highways, bridges, levees and locks. While these parts of the US infrastructure all need vital repairing, Uchitelle argues that "it doesn't create permanent wealth."

He mentions several projects that are "smaller in cost and boldness, and in contribution to economic growth" such as Denver and Salt Lake City's proposed light rail and bus lines but says that they are not the spectacular feats of engineering and ingenuity that greatly enhance the economy such as the Eric Canal or The Golden Gate Bridge.

However despite Mr Uchitelle's despair, several such schemes are being planned. While he mentions a proposed high-speed rail link between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh as only securing $8 billion despite costing $3 trillion, one such system is garnering more support.

Last year, voters passed a bond measure, which approved $9.95 billion to fund a high-speed train line from San Diego to Sacramento. On top of this, a few months later, as part of the stimulus package, Congress dedicated $8 billion to pay for high-speed rail projects across the country. While Mr Uchitelle feels the projects will never gather momentum around the country, California has already received approval from voters for the funding of a bullet train.

Estimated to cost $40 billion, state bonds will only be able to cover a quarter of the cost, so planners are relying on federal money and private capital for the rest. While it may not be a green-light, it's much closer than many other states.

Then there are the plans to modernise the US Power Grid with the so-called "Smart Grid". Whilst it may not have the visual awe of the Hoover Dam, the US Smart Grid will have long reaching economical advantages to the country, and that rolling black outs might become a thing of the past.

As Mr Uchitelle's argument highlights the lack of public works, I shall not mention the number of mega-construction projects such as the Chicago Spire and The Freedom Tower that show the US is still capable of building them big, but with money at least going towards proposed super-projects, it is fair to say the US hasn't forgotten about them, it's just realised it's better to upgrade what you have then start on something anew.

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