‘Why Can’t Big Things Get Done?’

That’s the question that gets asked a lot today, given the extended timelines for big construction projects like locks and dams. A prime example is the 102-year-old Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lock in New Orleans, one of the busiest locks in the nation. Congress gave the Corps conditional authorization to replace the lock in 1956—nearly 70 years ago.

Often cited as an opposite to our slow pace of construction is China’s apparent success in quickly building out whole cities, or a shipbuilding industry, seemingly from scratch.

In America, frustrated doers look back to the Empire State Building, completed ahead of schedule and under budget in just one year and 45 days during the depths of the Depression. The Hoover Dam took five years to build, but that was still less than the seven years projected.

Could one component of the problem be that too many people have “veto” power over big projects? That’s the thesis of Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress―and How to Bring It Back, by Marc Dunkelman. He blames the backlash against the notoriously dictatorial New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, made famous by the 1974 Robert Caro biography titled The Power Broker.

In Dunkelman’s telling, politicians in Congress, scandalized by Moses’ riding roughshod over people and neighborhoods, swung to the other extreme. They passed laws and a regulatory regime that gave too many people veto power over big projects. Instead of Robert Moses, every project now has a swarm of people who can say “no” and no one who can make it happen regardless. Failure to properly collect and collate public comments can even result in lawsuits that halt big projects or force them to start over.

The need to replace the century-old IHNC Lock is well known throughout the marine industry. The Corps of Engineers has gone to great lengths to ensure all stakeholder input is thoroughly documented and considered throughout the replacement process. Industry groups like Waterways Council Inc. and the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA) are working with stakeholders of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to highlight the importance of IHNC and the potential impacts the lock has on various civilian and military fuel supply chains.

There must be some middle ground between Robert Moses-style dictation and a 70-year-long process to replace a major piece of infrastructure like IHNC, and everyone knows it.