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by casey2 68 days ago
What rail, road or bridge in the US lasts 50 years? The maintenance of rail over 6 years costs more than replacing all the GPUs in a data center, even at their current markup.
2 comments

Look up deterioration curve and maintenance curve (J shaped) for hard infra. TLDR is asset stays in good condition for 75% of lifetime i.e. decades with light maintenance (flat part of J). By roads I mean highways where most of the expense / work is in building out the base / sub base (i.e. ballasts for rail), that last decades. US is uniquely bad maintained/prevention but even then major assets do not deteriorate on GPU timeline.
have you seen our rails, roads and bridges?!? 50 year old ones in many places are being referred to as “new ones” :)

the only reason any “maintenance” on them is expensive is corruption which at municipal level rivals current administration in some places