Harden the infrastructure!

So a brand-new subway system that cost $527 million to build is going to cost $500 to repair due to Hurricane Sandy's storm surge.  When climate change denial reaches into half-billion dollar projects, we are talking major rejection of reality.  What is even more interesting, whatever changes they must make to build a station that can occasionally be flooded (or whatever they decide to do) it will probably triple the cost.

Just remember, expensive infrastructure projects are good for the real economy.

It Will Cost $500 Million To Repair Manhattan's South Ferry Subway Station

Alex Davies | Dec. 6, 2012

During today's Senate hearing on Hurricane Sandy's impact on transportation systems, some daunting numbers have been presented.

Among them is the $500 million price tag New York Senator Chuck Schumer said is the cost to repair the South Ferry-Whitehall subway station in lower Manhattan, which was totally flooded.

The South Ferry-Whitehall station opened in 2009, the first large mass transit project undertaken in lower Manhattan after September 11, 2001.

The station, which cost $527 million to build, is especially vulnerable to flooding caused by tidal surges: It is eight stories below ground and just 400 feet from the river, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

In his testimony at the hearing, MTA Commissioner Joe Lhota said the station "was completely destroyed."

Overall, it will cost an estimated $5 billion to repair the damage Sandy did to New York City's mass transit system, which serves 8.5 million people every day.  more