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aaronbrethorst • 07/31/2025 • 2 replies • view on HN

    The 2nd Ave Subway in Manhattan, with
    preparatory construction beginning in
    1942. First phase opened in 2017.
Although the outcome should be celebrated, the slowness and the added costs that brings certainly should not be.

    While every project is unique, it is not
    immediately clear why digging a subway
    on the Upper East Side is twenty times
    more expensive than in Seoul or ten
    times more expensive than in Paris.
https://marroninstitute.nyu.edu/blog/costly-lessons-from-the...

here's a even more damning look: https://www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/why-it-costs-4-billion...

edit: I've been on a tirade about this subject this week. https://www.brethorsting.com/blog/2025/07/state-capacity-and...

Replies

jauntywundrkind • 07/31/2025

Super enjoyed this read today. And a much shorter punchline. https://www.volts.wtf/p/us-transit-costs-and-how-to-tame https://bsky.app/profile/volts.wtf/post/3lvbpy6p2zk2c

It's just so sad having a nation where disbelief & being against things is so the spirit.

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wwweston • 07/31/2025

The “it is not immediately clear” part should be taken to heart a lot more than it is. Right now I’d bet you could elect Ezra Klein president and he would be as unable to improve things as most, and he probably has a somewhat clearer picture of the factors than your average internet commentator.

Railing against optimizing for caution in a vague sense really isn’t articulating specific dynamics however well it leans into the shallow strawmanification of “regulation” that doesn’t merely dominate lay discourse but has essentially ascended into conceptual godhood without having paid real dues in sacrifice or insight.

There is no respectable theory of why that has even begun to grasp the problem.

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