

Building a better Bay Bridge - tlrobinson
http://news.cnet.com/2300-11386_3-10001505.html?tag=mncol

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russell
It may be better, but it sure is taking forever. The original bay bridge took
3 years to build, but the new one is taking 24 years from the time of the Loma
Prieta Earthquake which caused a portion of the original bridge to collapse.
Think of it: when the old bridge is finally retired, a third of its lifetime
will be occupied by building its replacement.

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teej
Replacing pieces on a pre-existing structure has to be more complex than
building from scratch.

Besides, they are optimizing for high availability over speed. You have to
remember, the bridge is only unavailable for -5 days-. That's a feat in and of
itself.

~~~
ojbyrne
Which should be familiar to any experienced software engineer. Initial product
= 1/10 or less of the total effort.

