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Comment by pwarner | Hacker News Reader

I've watched these. They're excellent.

They make me wonder why these European companies don't compete in US infrastructure projects?

Because there are American (or Canadian, British, etc) companies that do what's necessary for American Civil Engineering.

When it is worth it, American public works entities do reach out to German (and other national) companies. As to issues like this specifically? Because the US generally has wider freeways/highways, so is less impacted by single/double lane shutdowns for surfacing. In addition, many states have opted for less long-lasting quick pack asphalt for surface streets which can be resurfaced in place and ready to drive on again in a few hours.

I know it's Internet rhetoric to assume America and it's government are incompetent, but the Civil Corps of Engineers, CalTrans, etc are actually pretty good at their jobs. The biggest horror stories are jobs given to private entities that go overbudget and overtime.

Arguably a big chunk of issue is that a lot of projects that were built by government now are only paid for by government... through the nose.

One factor you’ll see in many areas of government is the second order cost of eliminating civil service positions. It’s most common to talk about how contractors usually end up costing more and being less efficient due to additional overhead and conflicts of interest, but there’s a deeper problem that the government doesn’t have a staff of people with the knowledge and experience to select and manage contractors. That’s how you end up in situations where none of the alternatives are better than eating the cost of a bad plan or accepting a lower project lifetime, and because it’s a managerial failure the blame is often spread between three or more organizations and often has no effective accountability.

Well, for the California example, CalTrans is the govt. They're well staffed and don't (generally, it may occur occasionally) rely on contractors for their work. I believe the same goes for CDOT and other agencies, though many of them are more willing to contract out as they don't necessarily prioritize roadwork like Californians do (for obvious reasons).

Generally, it's particularly rare (at least in the Western "blue" States) to rely on mostly or, especially, exclusively private public works programs.

It's a monopsony, no? So if you ingratiate yourself with the buyer, you're in.

I think there are some sort of "buy American" restrictions for many US infrastructure projects.

Competition is ruthless.

Try to open a lemonade stand in other kids neighborhood they will kick you out :)

Now try to do the same where millions or more $ are at stake, good luck with that :)

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