[shiroiushi]

Here in Tokyo, there's a relatively new bridge that's almost exactly the same length as the Key bridge in Baltimore, and was expressly designed to allow large ships to pass underneath:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Gate_Bridge

By my calculations (using the yen cost in the wikipedia article and the JPY/USD conversion at the time), it cost about USD $1.1B, so a bit less than double this estimate.

However, with the way things get done in the US these days, I suspect your 10x prediction is much more likely.

[rich_sasha]

It probably needs to be earthquake-proof too, which maybe it doesn't in Baltimore.

[saalweachter]

I suspect the winning bridge design in Baltimore is going to include massive starlings, beyond what is normal, or some other mitigation factor for the last disaster.

So maybe earthquake-proofing is a fair comparison, cost-wise.

[throwup238]

They’re just going to put more dolphins around the pylons. They had a few already but they were poorly placed and had an opening a container ship could slip through.

[btbuildem]

"an opening a container ship could slip through" -- I'm going to use that to mock security people at my work

[vidanay]

The cheapest option (and most profitable to tug operators) is to require that ships over a certain tonnage be tug escorted past the bridge.

[shiroiushi]

It definitely needs to be earthquake-resistant; we get earthquakes here constantly.

Another interesting fact about the Tokyo Gate Bridge (from the Wikipedia article): it's basically made of 3 sections, the two sides and one smaller piece in the middle to connect them. The two side pieces are cantilevers, so they're self-supporting. So if a big container ship managed to strike one side and knock it down, theoretically the other side would remain standing, rather than the whole thing collapsing like the Baltimore bridge.

[polski-g]

The entire project should be outsourced to a Japanese contractor. We're going to end up with a 10year $14bn bridge to nowhere, much like HSR in California.

[shiroiushi]

>The entire project should be outsourced to a Japanese contractor.

You can't do that; it doesn't work that way unless perhaps you transfer ownership of all that territory to Japan.

This is a location that's on the opposite side of the planet. So you could obviously do the design work in Japan, but the construction has to happen on-site, which means

1) using local workers, and 2) dealing with local laws/regulations.

The labor force alone is hugely different between the two countries, not just the people themselves and their culture and language, but also how they're organized: contractors, subcontractors, unions, etc. A Japanese company with no experience working outside Japan would have no idea how to deal with all that.

Local laws and regulations are also an issue, since again the Japanese company would be unfamiliar with all that. In NYC, for instance, there's some crazy regulations about how many workers have to be present for stuff, which ends up driving costs up a lot. Just having a foreign company manage the project isn't going to change that stuff.

The ridiculous costs of American projects are due to many factors present in America now, and simply hiring a foreign company to manage a project isn't going to change those. America needs to fix its issues. Unlike a car or airplane, a bridge or subway isn't something you can just build offshore and transport to your country.