Massachusetts' Instant Bridges
The River Street Bridge replacement in Boston would normally have taken two years of road closures and detours for citizens but due to Boston's "accelerated approach," only required two days on one weekend in April. Workers prefabricated the bridge on an adjacent lot, then tore down the old span on a Friday night and slid the new bridge onto the old abutments, finished the fastening and testing, and opened it up to traffic on Monday. According to the head of the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, this accelerated approach will be the "new normal" in the future.
1. Given the pressure to speed up the completion of a project by compressing its schedule, what's the message here?
2. Do you expect the new way of transportation infrastructure will be more or less expensive?
3. Why do you think this approach wasn't used sooner?