How do you spend $44 Million and 10 years “planning”???
It brings life to the meme:
“Give an Engineer $1 Million and 1 Year, and 12 months later he’ll nearly have the book case complete.”
I work for an engineering company. So many government “issues” inflate any project. From environmental issues, tree protection and right of way it is crazy. All of these have to be researched and studied before anything “real” is done. And engineers are paid pretty good for their time.
I prefer Nevil Shute's definition from Trustee from the Toolroom, "An engineer is a man who can do for five bob what any bloody fool can do for a quid."
"5 bob" = 5 shillings = 1/4 pound sterling = $0.42 (today)
"a quid = one pound sterling = $1.69 (today)
Of course, Shute wrote long before OSHA, EPA, EEOC, the Consumer Protection Agency and the American Tort Lawyer.
Several years ago I read a study that concluded that to get the venerable Pipe Cub certified today would take two years and cost $2.3 million.