Washington Monthly - September/October 2014 - 14

Yet the Pentagon is a model of
efficiency compared to ...

from a Metro stop to the Bethesda Naval
Hospital without having to dodge traffic on a busy thoroughfare. Slated to cost
Standing in the shadow of Georgetown's $68 million and take four years-for a
magnificent Key Bridge, completed in walkway!-the project is everything that's
wrong with modern government-run in1923, the president recently lamented
that construction of highways, bridges, frastructure work in a nutshell.
Part of the reason for high cost and
and mass transit is stagnant. Obama's explanation: "We are not spending enough" glacial tempo is union work rules that
are designed to slow construction. Fedon infrastructure.
We're not getting enough for what we eral law generally requires project labor
do spend. The Tappan Zee Bridge, north of agreements (once called Davis-Bacon
New York City, was completed in 1955, at rules) that mandate maximum hiring
a cost of $650 million in today's money; a coupled to minimum pace. Yet Europe's
replacement under construction will cost strong unions do not prevent costat least $4 billion, six times as much. The effective infrastructure construction.
John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge in Lou- The new East London line extension rail
project will cost $85 million per mile, or
isville, completed in 1963 for $80 million
barely more than half the price of the
in today's money, is being replaced with
a new bridge costing more than $1 billion, Purple Line in suburban Washington,
a dozen times as much. A generation ago, D.C., though London's congestion makes
the city among the
most difficult places in the world for
The drive, discipline, and optimism
heavy engineering.
that once characterized U.S. space
Part of the problem is that when
efforts have been replaced with the
the federal governsame featherbedded foot dragging
ment is paying for
a locally managed
found in federal infrastructure projects. project, the incentive is to drag it
out and keep funthe final underground segments of Wash- ny money flowing. The East London conington's Metro system cost $215 million a tracts involved substantial financial penalmile in today's money. New subway tun- ties for delay; in the U.S., federally backed
nels being dug in Seattle and San Francis- mass transit contracts all but award prizes for delay.
co are costing a billion dollars a mile.
Liberals have trouble facing up to the
Not far from the White House is a lightrail project-the Purple Line for Mont- bloated cost of infrastructure in the U.S.
gomery County, Maryland. It's insane- because they can't admit when governly overpriced at $150 million per mile for ment runs things poorly: whatever the
aboveground construction on land the rel- problem, the solution must always be more
evant government authorities already own. spending. The inability of federally backed
Also near the White House, Metro's Silver projects to be reasonably priced and on
Line expansion is costing $245 million per time discredits government. Rather than
mile for one very complicated flyover but ask for more money to distribute, Obama
should roll up his sleeves and make govotherwise routine aboveground work.
In addition to being insanely expensive, ernment construction spending efficient.
contemporary government infrastructure
efforts are ridiculously slow. Repaving Shoot 'em in the head
three miles of River Road, a commuter artery into the nation's capital, is scheduled Botched chemical executions in Arizona
to take about a year. A pedestrian under- and Oklahoma have caused condemned
pass is being built to allow people to walk men-both monsters who murdered the

September/October 2014

helpless-to die moaning in pain. The Supreme Court can't make up its mind whether chemical execution is cruel in constitutional terms. A Utah state lawmaker was
scorned by popular opinion for saying the
firing squad is more humane than the lethal cocktail. Only eight states still use the
chair, which causes horrific suffering.
Killing can be justified if to defend self
or others. The incarcerated pose no threat;
for that reason, capital punishment is unjust. Yet if there is to be capital punishment, let's shoot 'em in the head.
Being shot in the head is the fastest way
to die, thus is the least inhumane form of
execution. Firing squads aim for the heart,
so death takes a moment. With a shot to
the head there is no suffering, life just
ends. Sure, brains splatter everywhere, but
let's not get all squeamish. Shoot death
row convicts in the head, and televise executions to maximize the deterrent effect.
I am not saying this in "modest proposal" terms, but, rather, in earnest. Prosecutors and many voters want those who
commit mortal sins executed in some
bloodless, genteel manner that allows society to wash its hands. If executions were
by a shot to the head, and anyone could
watch, support for capital punishment
would evaporate.

Nowhere to go but up
America's space program continues to lack
vision. Officials talk vaguely of a manned
Mars flight, but that's out of the question with current propulsion technology.
A pretty basic Mars mission would weigh
about 4,000 tons at departure from low
earth orbit. That's the mass of a Perryclass frigate, and the U.S. is not sending
a frigate to Mars anytime soon. Putting
those 4,000 tons into orbit would require
the launching of thirty Saturn V-class
rockets. The entire Apollo moon program
entailed twelve Saturn V launches.
NASA space science (probes, telescopes,
earth study) is going well, but manned
concepts remain aimless-astronauts
taking each other's blood pressure on
the Space Station, whose achievements
are, ahem, we'll get back to you. A reasonable way to prioritize NASA would be
the following: space science, propulsion

Washington Monthly - September/October 2014

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