Originally Posted by
M60_to_LGA
Because Jesus hates taxes and infrastructure
More seriously, America has serious problems with public investment at all levels, exacerbated by the fact that our costs are excessively high and our entire bureaucratic process is broken - needing a 1000-page EIS and 40 rounds of public consultation for just about anything, etc. And let's not forget good old corruption and graft in many regions of the country (hello, NY) - the same reason we can't build a new subway station for less than eleventy trillion dollars.
Also, isn't airport construction in the US often led by the airlines themselves rather than being treated as a public good by the government? That ends up discouraging investment because companies will see it as a cost.
I will say that some US airports are fine. CLT is nice, DFW is tolerable, the new LGA is actually quite pleasant. But yeah - most are mediocre to hot garbage - looking at you, EWR.
I know exactly what you mean. Didn't Penn Station have massive cost overruns in the billions in the last renovation? What about that new subway line (second avenue?) that cost something like a billion dollars per mile?
Also, the NYT had an article about California's HSR, where despite spending billions since 2008, it may never be finished.
The US doesn't seem capable of doing big infrastructure projects anymore.