Fun to "normalise" - the UK, for example, has both the recent London underground extensions and the London Sewer projects that have figures on tap for large tunnels + extras.
This specific "tunnel with windows" is $400 m USD quoted in toto for a 675-foot avalanche resistant rock shed.
In Yosemite they're cutting through the edges of hard rock - as opposed to the much softer soils under London and the Thames, and they're making an impact shock resistant structure exposed to daily heating and cooling as opposed to relatively zero shock resistant tunnels with far less of a temperature cycle.
For a Yosemite tunnel the length would be greater and the cutting challenges greater (rock V soil).
Apples, Oranges.
You might be better served looking to European rock shed construction of a similar scale - the civil engineering aspects would be similar.
London is quite different. It has no significant hills and is built on clay.
Scotland, on the other hand, could do with a lot more tunnels (especially on the Rest and Be Thankful route) but it never seems to be considered. The Faroe Islands have so many tunnels that one island is nicknamed the piccolo.
The UK spent 100m GBP on a 900m tunnel. Rather than protecting cars from rocks, this one protects trains from bats (or vice versa really) so structural requirements are presumably less stringent. It's weirdly pretty though.
The UK spent £320 million on a single roundabout on the M25. Meanwhile the same government cut the national cycling budget from £200 million to £20 million.
I don't know if that's better or worse than the black screen I looked at for ten seconds before deciding that the web page is either broken or blocking non-US traffic.
the linked article doesn't want to be read by myself so this question may be daft. still, may I inquire as to your proposed relation between the thread subject (conceptually, tunnel building) and fascism ?
The article makes the connection, though obliquely. It seems obvious enough - large parts of the USian West embody fascism in their unnatural relationship with nature. Unsustainable water consumption, roads and "the freedom of the open highway," etc.
And as late-stage capitalism "progresses" it'll all become uninhabitable, replicating the logic of the so-called climate migration crisis within as it is without.
"large parts of the USian West embody #{state-run economic and social groups like early 20th century Italy} in their unnatural relationship with nature." Learn something new every day!
im a bit confused. plenty of dictatorships, those labelled both left (communism) and right (fascism), disregard environmental factors in the name of progress. for the sake of argumentative rigor i will point towards china as a left wing dictatorship currently destroying the environment to further economic objectives. did you have a way to make the case that specifically right wing dictatorships should more prevalently be linked to unnatural relationships with nature?
Just a reminder that Marxists have been saying we are in supposed late-stage capitalism for 150 years now.
The current set up isn't really that "capitalist", since in this case the state and the taxpayer is going to pay for a rockshelter going to a national park, again owned by the state. That said this is a lot better than what happened to the Aral Sea under Marxist government.
Built in 1978. We're about to do another on the A83 Rest and Be Thankful (the old road has a very steep section, like 1-in-3 switchbacks, and then a big flat bit at the top that you'd be pretty damn thankful for if you were on foot).
In this Google Streetview pic you can see the catch netting that mostly works, and masses of roadworks where they're reinforcing it further up. It's a total pain in the arse basically every time it rains.
This article is kind of dramatic about describing a normal thing. Alpine highways everywhere in the world have to deal with this. The entire Mountain West is built for this, including some parts of California.
Maybe the Federal government has never bothered to invest in some aspects of road safety in Yosemite. That’s somewhat embarrassing. I’m surprised this is even an issue in Yosemite given how many other places have had this forever. Far more remote and unpopular highways have addressed this problem.
It is difficult to paint this as anything but incompetence.
OP correctly points out that you can already find these throughout "the entire Mountain West", broad portions of which does have to deal with similar quakes (see: Washington, Oregon, BC, etc.).
“There’s not anything like this in the world,” said Corey Casey, Caltrans’ project manager for the shed.
Is there a word for the phenomenon that Americans will just always claim something they do is the worlds best / biggest / most unique until essentially proven otherwise.
How would anyone come to the conclusion that this is a new thing unique to California?
Revenge for Pavel Chekov claiming in Star Trek that Whisky, among other things, was a Russian invention. It was his running gag that Russia did it either first or best.
The USSR used to claim that Russia had invented everything (India often does the same). In some cases they did have a genuine claim. There were certainly pioneers of rocketry and aviation in the Russian Empire who were overlooked in the west.
The joke in the films about Shakespeare sounding better in the original Klingon came from people who claimed Shakespeare was a German. (Colonel Gaddafi claimed Shakespeare was an Arabic called Sheikh Zubair.)
Actual question: Is there something I can do as a citizen to try to get this moron fired and replaced by someone smart enough to do research before starting a project?
If the answer is "Contribute to a state politician's campaign", any tips on which would be the highest leverage?
So fun fact, when learning Chinese I always thought it was weird that America gets to be “meiguo” beautiful country. Like how would the Chinese know America was beautiful, maybe the Americans described their own country this way? Or is mei guo just a rough cognate for Meri-Ca ?
But later I found a footnote that suggested the use of mei here is reflexive, in meiguoren, “people who find themselves to be beautiful” and that makes a lot more sense to me :)
46 comments
[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 17.3 ms ] threadWhat would an actual tunnel cost in Europe or China?
This specific "tunnel with windows" is $400 m USD quoted in toto for a 675-foot avalanche resistant rock shed.
In Yosemite they're cutting through the edges of hard rock - as opposed to the much softer soils under London and the Thames, and they're making an impact shock resistant structure exposed to daily heating and cooling as opposed to relatively zero shock resistant tunnels with far less of a temperature cycle.
For a Yosemite tunnel the length would be greater and the cutting challenges greater (rock V soil).
Apples, Oranges.
You might be better served looking to European rock shed construction of a similar scale - the civil engineering aspects would be similar.
Scotland, on the other hand, could do with a lot more tunnels (especially on the Rest and Be Thankful route) but it never seems to be considered. The Faroe Islands have so many tunnels that one island is nicknamed the piccolo.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tranbc/26942437655
* (I didn't really laugh, just used the acronym for its disrespectful tone)
The article makes the connection, though obliquely. It seems obvious enough - large parts of the USian West embody fascism in their unnatural relationship with nature. Unsustainable water consumption, roads and "the freedom of the open highway," etc.
And as late-stage capitalism "progresses" it'll all become uninhabitable, replicating the logic of the so-called climate migration crisis within as it is without.
The current set up isn't really that "capitalist", since in this case the state and the taxpayer is going to pay for a rockshelter going to a national park, again owned by the state. That said this is a lot better than what happened to the Aral Sea under Marxist government.
Must've never driven through the Alps I guess. There's something like this every couple km
Built in 1978. We're about to do another on the A83 Rest and Be Thankful (the old road has a very steep section, like 1-in-3 switchbacks, and then a big flat bit at the top that you'd be pretty damn thankful for if you were on foot).
In this Google Streetview pic you can see the catch netting that mostly works, and masses of roadworks where they're reinforcing it further up. It's a total pain in the arse basically every time it rains.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/gvnaFDdtCdkz1hNK9
Maybe the Federal government has never bothered to invest in some aspects of road safety in Yosemite. That’s somewhat embarrassing. I’m surprised this is even an issue in Yosemite given how many other places have had this forever. Far more remote and unpopular highways have addressed this problem.
It is difficult to paint this as anything but incompetence.
"There’s not anything like this in the world"
Dunno, these renderings look like the the things I drive through every year when I go hiking in the Alps.
It looks cool, and I'm sure it's a huge undertaking with lots of engineering involved, but neither the problem nor the solution are unique.
Is there a word for the phenomenon that Americans will just always claim something they do is the worlds best / biggest / most unique until essentially proven otherwise.
How would anyone come to the conclusion that this is a new thing unique to California?
The joke in the films about Shakespeare sounding better in the original Klingon came from people who claimed Shakespeare was a German. (Colonel Gaddafi claimed Shakespeare was an Arabic called Sheikh Zubair.)
If the answer is "Contribute to a state politician's campaign", any tips on which would be the highest leverage?
But later I found a footnote that suggested the use of mei here is reflexive, in meiguoren, “people who find themselves to be beautiful” and that makes a lot more sense to me :)
I guess he's never been to Europe?