To never understand how it costs so much to build a road

[maddening]

The below link is for a news story announcing the opening of a new link Road, not a new concept and have seen many in the news previously, but the one thing that I can not get my head around is the cost of these things, this one is a 5.5km stretch, at the cost of £90 million, so over £16 million per km, I just don't get how it comes to that much, aibu (probably, I am sure that the costs have had to be justified) as a layperson to never cease to be shocked by the cost if these projects!
www.chesterstandard.co.uk/news/19245573.cheshire-long-awaited-90m-link-road-opens-traffic/

As pp have said there is so much more to a major project than just slapping the tarmac down, all the above but also you might need to get an archeologist involved too depending on location, pull in new power for street lights etc which can add up as you then need to negotiate wayleaves on the land any new cables are run on too, and the price for a tunnel or bridge will take the overall average per km up.

@EvilPea

I wonder these things although the one that gets me is just how much that press conference room cost.

Yes, I was thinking this. Where did that money go?

Because it's not just BUILDING the road, they started working and planning it all probably 5-6 years (possibly 10) before any earth was touched that's all included in the costs.

I work on infrastructure and development projects
Have never had a brown paper envelope though. Not sure what I am doing wrong...

So many different costs spring to mind

• land acquisition (or compulsory purchase) - this alone runs into millions
• planning process
• engineering design
• environmental mitigations
• heavy equipment hire

-utility works /diversions

It's far more complex and time consuming than it might seem

If they cared about the environment then HS2 wouldn't be going ahead.

They spend millions paying lip service to it.

FTEngineerM - guessing if it was a woman
A. It wouldn't take so many of them and
B. It wouldn't cost as much
And probably C it would come in as per quote or lower......

@Kendodd

I believe we have the most expensive road and rail build costs per mile in Europe.

I can absolutely guarantee it is more expensive in Ireland. The costs on here seem reasonable to anyone who has ever built in Ireland.

And for a real eye watering figure:

The National Children's Hospital in Dublin is not finished yet but an original costing of 400 million is now projecting at 2.4 billion but could be more. This will be the most expensive hospital in the world with cost per bed 3 times any other hospital in the world.

Oh, they have yet to cost installation of computer equipment and cabling. It has stopped other capital spending on health for a good few years at probably the worst time ever for this scenario.
Even by public sector cost controls, this gas been a bit of a disaster.

so over £16 million per km,

1km of motorway is easily 16000m2 (width 16m). so that's £1000 per m2. If you start to break it down with costs such as planning permission, architects and town planners, builders and road painters plus loads of other workers none of us know even exists plus all the materials I am not surprised it costs £1000 per square metre.

Get a quote for your driveway to be resurfaced and then multiply the cost by however many thousands or millions of times bigger a road is.

@Feelingconfused2020

so over £16 million per km,

1km of motorway is easily 16000m2 (width 16m). so that's £1000 per m2. If you start to break it down with costs such as planning permission, architects and town planners, builders and road painters plus loads of other workers none of us know even exists plus all the materials I am not surprised it costs £1000 per square metre.

I work in building construction and my rule of thumb at feasibility stage is £2500/m2 for basic classroom or office space. Specialist fit out for laboratory equipment or commercial kitchen is additional.

I thought he of the biggest expenses was dealing with legal challenges and planning objections, plus cost of compulsory purchase of the land

I'm not shocked by the costs, just that 'predict and provide' on roads has failed as a transport strategy yet is till continued. Not building more railways or having longer trains, more to get people walking local distances, and having a large reduction in Chelsea Tractors by making people take their driving test if they want to use them or having a standard size car.

@EdithWeston

I thought he of the biggest expenses was dealing with legal challenges and planning objections, plus cost of compulsory purchase of the land

Probably so. Or its going to significantly add to the cost of the project.

Then you have all the design and traffic study costs to decide where to build the road and how to (hopefully) maximise the traffic flow/minimise bottlenecks.

Physical costs of materials, plant and people to do the actual build.

Costs associated with closing roads that will link to the new road while building slip roads etc. And due to needing to keep existing roads flowing, a lot of the work is done in a very bitty fashion where they have to put out cones and remove them while they do the work, often overnight, which will add to labour costs as (again hopefully) night time road building work is paid at a higher rate.

My city has spent millions, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions over the past few decades thinking and talking about putting a tram system in and there's still no sign of an actual plan that could lead to fruitition.

According to this, the cost so far over the last fifty years of not installing a mass transit system in Leeds is SEVENTY MILLION POUNDS .

So £90 million to build an actual road seems like quite a bargain to me.

@ClareBlue

And for a real eye watering figure:

The National Children's Hospital in Dublin is not finished yet but an original costing of 400 million is now projecting at 2.4 billion but could be more. This will be the most expensive hospital in the world with cost per bed 3 times any other hospital in the world.

Oh, they have yet to cost installation of computer equipment and cabling. It has stopped other capital spending on health for a good few years at probably the worst time ever for this scenario.
Even by public sector cost controls, this gas been a bit of a disaster.

I used to wonder how on earth stuff like this happened, then a few years ago I worked on two projects (commercial) that over run by over 12 months on site and it all became clear. The stress was making me want to pack the whole thing in and change career!

All building projects in the UK also need to be prepared for a delay and the costs of archaeology if they stumble across anything interesting. That can add a few hundred thousand before you can say "Time Team".

@DGRossetti

I don't know how widely it's been reported, but it was on our local news in the last few days, but it's just been reported that a very significant Roman ruins complex was discovered a year or two ago during the construction of a housing estate in Scarborough.

historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/in-your-area/yorkshire/roman-remains-discovery-scarborough/

I can imagine that's an absolute nightmare for construction companies and the cost of delays, redesign or reduction in land that they could use could break a small company, unless they have insurance or are entitled to compensation?

DP works for a small house building company and he jokingly said that if anything like that happened where he worked they would be hastily ordering a few thousand tonnes of hardcore and covering over anything that had been discovered

A tram line in Manchester hugely over ran when they found plague graves, right in the city centre.

Yup, every time one of my projects breaks ground I'm holding my breath until the concrete is poured!

Of course a man - a woman would just get on with it... and use the rear view mirrors as well

I don't know how widely it's been reported, but it was on our local news in the last few days, but it's just been reported that a very significant Roman ruins complex was discovered a year or two ago during the construction of a housing estate in Scarborough.

Widely enough to attract the scum of the earth nighthawkers who have done their level best to remove any and all historical value from the discovery.

A(nother) discovery that shows the propaganda that Roman Britain was a bit shit was just that - propaganda.

Incidentally, have been reading something on the economics of road building in Roman Empire. Also was a massive point of debate at that time, but they concluded that it is worth it - and looks like they were right, many of those roads are in use until now (with improvements along the way, of course).

@forinborin - totally agree. We went walking up above Saddleworth and found Castleshaw Fort and the roman road there, which 1) was dead interesting, and 2) we came home and googled the arse off Roman Roads. We found loads of great websites that illustrated where they are today and how many are still in use, including Deansgate and Briscoe Lane in Manchester, which I cycle down on my commutes. I work in the housing industry (admin) and we had a presentation from a colleague who is responsible for placemaking, who explained that once a road is built, it is likely to be there for hundreds of years. Houses and buildings will come and go, but a large amount of the main roads we use today have been there for absolute yonks.

I'll nerd off now before I bore everyone rigid...

Forin and Sweatybetty - fascinating and makes perfect sense. We walk on Dere Street quite often - 1900 years and it's still easy to see the route in a lot of places.