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I wonder how countries who can do these things faster do it.
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I know that's how China does it, but I think I read that most European countries are a lot better with big public projects than the US is.
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Stuttgart 21 and Berlin's new airport are def counterexamples:
The project [Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof] was officially announced in April 1994. Construction work began on 2 February 2010. [...] The new Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof is scheduled to open in December 2031, with associated works to be delivered in phases between 2027 and 2033. Total project costs had also risen by €3 billion to €14.5 billion.
The airport was originally planned to open in October 2011, five years after starting construction in 2006. [...] Berlin Brandenburg Airport finally received its operational licence in May 2020, and opened for commercial traffic on 31 October 2020, 14 years after construction started and 29 years after official planning was begun
Interesting that you read that, though.
At least we've got this great meme out of Stuttgart 21 from a German satire website:
Construction workers dug too deep. Now they have to fight a Balrog.
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That's the thing, can't remember where I heard it. Maybe it was another one of those 'grass-is-greener' things where Americans falsely idolize Europe
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The problem I've observed, working on both the procuring and contracting side of some mega projects, is that these are most of the time RFP'd as one big thing. Say you contract a decade of work. The margin for error is huge, but you cannot truly price that in, because then you will be outbid. Also because when public money gets spent, not taking the cheapest offer is often politically suicidal.
There's no great answer though, breaking up mega projects into phasing is very hard on the requirement management side and not at all a guarantee that it goes better.