The Government Accountability Office will investigate why it costs so much more to build transit in the United States than anywhere else in the world. Perhaps this could be the change of systematic change.
"The astronomical costs of building the Second Avenue subway and other New York public transit projects are now the subject of a federal inquiry," reports Brian M. Rosenthal. The Government Accountability Office will undertake the investigation.
The investigation will include transit projects around the United States, according to Rosenthal, with special attention paid to New York City.
According to Rosenthal, the investigation was enabled by the omnibus spending bill signed last week. The New York Times brought new attention to spending on transit capital investment projects in New York City at the beginning of the year, with a deep investigation of spending on projects like the Second Avenue Subway.
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Transit advocates were hoping the U.S. Government Accountability Office was finally going to expose the systematic failures of transit spending in the United States by comparing the practices of other countries.
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The Government Accountability Office was set to investigate why U.S. transit capital investments are so expensive, especially in contrast to comparable European projects, but that study will not leave the station.
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