No unions or OSHA regulations back then...
Or Environmental Impact Statements.
Look at the Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Coulee Dam, Hoover Dam, etc for examples of what we used to accomplish pre-EIS.
Or environmental assessments - that takes a LONG time. I was just reading about some light-rail into our town - the initial assessments started in 2000. (Too bad they couldn’t have taken 100 years. F-ing light rail will bring the gangs right here!)