Why do major road construction projects cost over $1 million

[ilvny]

Why do major road construction projects often cost over $1 million?  I know that the people responsible for planning and project management need to be paid, as well as the construction workers.  Additionally, excavation and landscaping are necessary, cement work needs to be done, medians need to be installed, heavy machinery is involved, signs need to be put up, and a bunch of other things, but why can't these projects cost less money?  Are there other people or companies besides the construction workers responsible for the physical aspects of the project (the road itself)?

[yanksfan6129]

Think about this question: What sort of costs goes into building roads?

[NE2]

Unions. Without unions it would cost about $100 for a new bridge.

[Alps]

So you just named all the costs, and decided that they shouldn't total more than $1 million? Check out unit prices - many agencies publish bid tabs that break down by quantity (NJDOT, NJTA, NYSDOT, the list is LONG). Math! It's what you do.

[JREwing78]

ilvny, you appear to have answered your own question. The raw materials aren't cheap (at least the ones will hold up more than a year or so), the labor isn't cheap, and the equipment needed isn't cheap. About the only thing that hasn't substantially gone up (and frankly needs to) are the fuel taxes paying for that work.

Just to give you an idea, building a mile of interstate in flat, rural areas is in the $2 million to $5 million range.

[hbelkins]

Also, factor in the time involved. Some new construction projects in the mountains of Kentucky can take 3 to 5 years to complete, just because of the amount of blasting and filling that have to be done.

Rising oil prices also play a role, not only for the cost of fuel for the equipment (have you checked diesel prices lately?) but for asphalt.

While NE2 was being a bit tongue-in-cheek about unions, the use of prevailing wages in bid proposals does tend to drive the cost of labor up. Requiring that contractors pay a certain salary well in excess of what they might otherwise pay does run costs up.

[J N Winkler]

Why do major road construction projects often cost over $1 million?

I think it has to have been at least four decades since $1 million was a reasonable threshold for "major."  Nowadays that is pretty close to the median cost for a large panel sign replacement contract.

[realjd]

$1,000,000 hasn't been THAT large a sum of money in quite a while, except from a personal finance perspective.

[3467]

Iowa just spent 8.5 million a mile on a new terrain section of US 20 which is and expressway not a freeway which is similar to Illinois prices. Its cheaper if you can use existing road depening on state policy. Iowa and Mo often dont do a subtantial reconstruct of the existing road while IL ususally does.
At the cheapest a 2 lane asphalt repave is about half a million in Illinois
I betweeen is a widening resurfacing and should add about 1.5 million. A 3 lane or passing lane 2-2.5 million
I think subruban freeway like the new Alton Bypass ran 30 million or more a mile upone completion. The new tollways in the Chicago area look to be more like 200 million a mile.
Add in restricted state budgets,medicaid expenses and the fat the a million is a decent amount of money......it explains why there is Fictional Highways

[J N Winkler]

Under $10 million = mouse

Between $10 million and $100 million = man

Over $100 million = elephant

[cpzilliacus]

Maryland is spending about $2.5 billion to build about 18 miles of Route 200. 

Most of it six lane freeway-standard road.

[US71]

Unions. Without unions it would cost about $100 for a new bridge.

And $300 toilet seats