Review by Choice Review
To some extent, this book is a political, managerial, and engineering history of the two San Fransisco-Oakland Bay Bridges, built in 1936 and 2013. The original 1936 bridge was a great success, an engineering landmark, and a model project that arrived on time and under budget. However, the 2013 East Span replacement bridge was declared to be an overpriced, badly managed, and a poorly designed and constructed failure. This book seeks to answer the question as to why the 1936 bridge was so successful, while the 2013 bridge was so unsuccessful. The book also provides information into the planning and management of large civil engineering projects. A major strength of the book is Mikesell's insights into planning and executing megaprojects. The 2013 East Span replacement bridge was estimated to cost $1 billion dollars, but its ultimate cost was $6.4 billion--perhaps the record for the percentage of a cost overrun of a megaproject. Mikesell, a historic preservation specialist and public historian, draws a number of conclusions from his study of the two contrasting bridges, including how to properly conduct a megaproject in terms of politics, planning, engineering, and cost estimation. The work is recommended to individuals interested in bridges, project management, megaprojects, and civil engineering in general. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Alvin M. Strauss, Vanderbilt University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
