It Seems Building The Bridges Should Be The Easy Part -- Just Saying -- Could The Chinese Have Done Better? -- July 24, 2018

Update on the California bullet train from The Los Angeles Times:

Engineers have built about 24,000 bridges in California over the last century, but a new one under construction in Madera County for the state’s bullet train project shows that they can still lead to serious blunders.

Tutor Perini, the lead contractor building a 32-mile section of railway near Fresno, had completed part of a tall highway bridge that would go over future train tracks when the California High-Speed Rail Authority last year issued a “stop work” order. The firm was told to tear down the construction on the Avenue 8 bridge and start over, the agency said this week.

In a statement, the authority said the Avenue 8 bridge design did not meet its “level of quality for a work product” and showed “signs of distress.” Some time after last September, the authority had Tutor Perini start on an entirely different design, agency documents show. The decision has not been previously reported.

The rail authority said it is discussing who will bear the cost of the rework. [We already know: the California taxpayer.]

At least three other bullet train bridges in the Central Valley used the same design as the Avenue 8 bridge and are now being redesigned, according to a January rail authority status update, raising questions about whether potentially more costly designs will be required in the future. The previous design for Avenue 8, using what is known as mechanically stabilized earth walls, is generally considered cheaper than the new design, using cast in place abutments.

The rail authority has acknowledged that it is behind schedule and facing sharply escalating costs, but a new team of executives who took over this year has vowed to make improvements to the execution of the program and re-establish its credibility as the project comes under the leadership of a new governor next year.

***********************************

US Farmers To Get $12 Billion By Labor Day 

Of course, not all $12 billion will be dispersed by then, but the goal is to start getting direct payments to farmers before mid-term elections. Details to follow. American Soybean Association unhappy; says it's not enough.

Can't wait to see lawmakers "vote" against this.

Not inconsequential for the affected farmers but won't "break the bank."

Let's put the $12 billion in perspective. From medium.com:

The U.S. Air Force bought 21 B-2 stealth bombers from Northrop Grumman in the 1980s and 1990s at a price of more than $2 billion apiece, if you count development costs. One crashed on Guam in 2008, leaving 20 in the active fleet. But declining readiness—owing to maintenance and upgrades, wear and tear and cash shortages—routinely grounds 11 of the radar-evading, bat-wing bombers.

Just 21 aircraft for the USAF cost in excess of $40 billion, most of which are seldom flying.