Transport infrastructure projects, especially public transit expansions, have a notorious history of cost overruns (How The Price Tag Doubled For The St. Clair Line - Jan. 19). The practice of underestimating the costs and exaggerating the benefits of proposed transport infrastructure is widespread. Bent Flyvbjerg and others in their book, Megaprojects and Risk: An Anatomy of Ambition, document how proponents (read consultants, contractors, manufacturers) of multibillion-dollar megaprojects "systematically and self-servingly misinform" gullible politicians, who are too eager to see their names on the plaques of new infrastructure.
The Big Dig in Boston (the project to convert Interstate 93 into a tunnel) takes the cake for cost overruns. The project was approved initially for $2.8-billion (U.S.). It ended up costing more than $20-billion.
The Canadian public has been complacent in permitting cost overruns for a variety of projects. For instance, the subway extension to Laval in Montreal was approved for less than $200-million. It cost taxpayers more than $1-billion.
One should not forgo due diligence when it comes to public transit. Environmental considerations should never be an excuse to fork over billions of taxpayers' money to consultants, contractors and equipment manufacturers.