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- The Planning Problem
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- Nathanael Johnson
The Big Dig, the Bay Bridge, the Chunnel...
Why do transportation projects go so spectacularly over budget? There's a simple explanation - this documentary uses California's experiment with high speed rail as a lens to see this problem with new clarity.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
The Big Dig, the Bay Bridge, the Chunnel...
Why do transportation projects go so spectacularly over budget? There's a simple explanation - this documentary uses California's experiment with high speed rail as a lens to see this problem with new clarity.
Broadcast History
First aired on KALW's Crosscurrents
Transcript
SHOW
NATHANAEL JOHNSON: All over the country, regional planners are working on high speed rail networks. President Barack Obama has said this is the time to build a modern passenger train system:
OBAMA: Building a new system of high-speed rail in America will be faster, cheaper and easier than building more freeways or adding to an already overburdened aviation system –- and everybody stands to benefit.
NJ: But this is also a time when Americans have little faith in their government’s ability to build big: After Boston’s Big Dig – the tunneling project that went five billion dollars overbudget, and California’s Bay Bridge replacement – which is expected to cost taxpayers seven billion dollars more than estimated – the people of this country are legitimately skeptical.
California is first in line to build high speed rail. The whole system will cost somewhere between 42 and 45 billion...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
Room in the half hour for host intro and NPR headlines. Can edit in a break for station identification in the interview in the middle.
Intro and Outro
INTRO:(perhaps tie in local building projects that have gone over budget - or with breaking news - the following is merely suggestion, don't have to name the station or me in the intro or outro)
If you've been paying attention you can probable name a some government building project that has taken far longer than expected, while costing more money. We now bring you a documentary that seeks to explain why these projects seem to go so routinely over budget. From the NPR affiliate KALW in San Francisco, Nathanael Johnson has this report: The Planning Problem.
That was "The Planning Problem" from KALW in San Francisco.
Additional Credits
Additional engineering: Chris Hoff
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