This article is kind of dramatic about describing a normal thing. Alpine highways everywhere in the world have to deal with this. The entire Mountain West is built for this, including some parts of California.
Maybe the Federal government has never bothered to invest in some aspects of road safety in Yosemite. That’s somewhat embarrassing. I’m surprised this is even an issue in Yosemite given how many other places have had this forever. Far more remote and unpopular highways have addressed this problem.
It is difficult to paint this as anything but incompetence.
Fun to "normalise" - the UK, for example, has both the recent London underground extensions and the London Sewer projects that have figures on tap for large tunnels + extras.
This specific "tunnel with windows" is $400 m USD quoted in toto for a 675-foot avalanche resistant rock shed.
In Yosemite they're cutting through the edges of hard rock - as opposed to the much softer soils under London and the Thames, and they're making an impact shock resistant structure exposed to daily heating and cooling as opposed to relatively zero shock resistant tunnels with far less of a temperature cycle.
For a Yosemite tunnel the length would be greater and the cutting challenges greater (rock V soil).
Apples, Oranges.
You might be better served looking to European rock shed construction of a similar scale - the civil engineering aspects would be similar.
I wouldn't have believed you but it will take close to a decade to build under like half a mile of sidewalk near me with like actual construction time planned in weeks in contrast to the overall plan.
I don't think I would blame the environmental consultants though. This is just how we do things now.
The USD 2B path train stop at WTC became USD 4B+ and nobody went to prison for it. I don't think it should have even been USD 2B. All we needed was a path train stop.
the linked article doesn't want to be read by myself so this question may be daft. still, may I inquire as to your proposed relation between the thread subject (conceptually, tunnel building) and fascism ?
Maybe the Federal government has never bothered to invest in some aspects of road safety in Yosemite. That’s somewhat embarrassing. I’m surprised this is even an issue in Yosemite given how many other places have had this forever. Far more remote and unpopular highways have addressed this problem.
It is difficult to paint this as anything but incompetence.
Must've never driven through the Alps I guess. There's something like this every couple km
What would an actual tunnel cost in Europe or China?
This specific "tunnel with windows" is $400 m USD quoted in toto for a 675-foot avalanche resistant rock shed.
In Yosemite they're cutting through the edges of hard rock - as opposed to the much softer soils under London and the Thames, and they're making an impact shock resistant structure exposed to daily heating and cooling as opposed to relatively zero shock resistant tunnels with far less of a temperature cycle.
For a Yosemite tunnel the length would be greater and the cutting challenges greater (rock V soil).
Apples, Oranges.
You might be better served looking to European rock shed construction of a similar scale - the civil engineering aspects would be similar.
The environmental consultants will drag this out for a decade if they can.
I don't think I would blame the environmental consultants though. This is just how we do things now.
The USD 2B path train stop at WTC became USD 4B+ and nobody went to prison for it. I don't think it should have even been USD 2B. All we needed was a path train stop.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tranbc/26942437655
* (I didn't really laugh, just used the acronym for its disrespectful tone)