DirectionNorth
Senior Member
Tritag has put out an interesting piece on how the cost of Ion Phase 2 became so high and what that money is paying for.
Tritag: Why ION cost estimates went up (and what to do about it)
I want you to read the whole piece, but there's one key bit of information - from 2011 to 2022, the hard cost increased from $720 million to $1.2 billion (in 2023 dollars), inflation adjusted - this includes a more expensive alignment south of Highway 8 instead of north of it. But soft costs increased from $350 million to $1.4 billion - had they remained at the same % of project costs as 2011, costs could go down $800 million.
(crossposted to the infrastructure costs thread)
Tritag: Why ION cost estimates went up (and what to do about it)
I want you to read the whole piece, but there's one key bit of information - from 2011 to 2022, the hard cost increased from $720 million to $1.2 billion (in 2023 dollars), inflation adjusted - this includes a more expensive alignment south of Highway 8 instead of north of it. But soft costs increased from $350 million to $1.4 billion - had they remained at the same % of project costs as 2011, costs could go down $800 million.
(crossposted to the infrastructure costs thread)