What America can learn from a bridge in Scotland

America’s infrastructure - the nation’s bridges, airports, dams, or levees - needs wide-scale repair and renewal.

The UK’s new Queensferry Crossing bridge, connecting Edinburgh to Fife in Scotland, offers an example on how to do it. Three good practices contributed to the high quality process and outcomes: the UK planners diagnosed the problem early; took their time with careful design upfront; and built and sustained an inclusive coalition of stakeholders. The evidence speaks for itself.

The Queensferry Crossing - a three-tower cable-stayed bridge with a length of 1.7 miles - opened in early September, well within budget and with a manageable 8 month time delay. This is a rare occurrence among bridges. According to research at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, nine out of 10 fixed links (bridges and tunnels) suffer an average cost overrun of 34% and a time delay of roughly 2 years.

Contrast the Queensferry bridge with that of the Bay Bridge (East span) in California, which connects the city of San Francisco to Oakland.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/11/what-america-can-learn-from-a-bridge-in-scotland/

Note: When the author refers to "UK planners", "Scottish government" and "parliament", he means the SNP-led Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh, not the UK government based in Westminster, London, which had nothing to do with this project.