How does road construction take so long

The lowest bidder wins the government contract to do the work.

All the bureaucracy and red tape. Sure some is needed but let's get real most is just there to pad wallets

Public sector. They have no incentive to move quickly.

I’m not rubbernecking. Every day I go through this instersection where traffic comes to a halt. Because they’ve blocked off 5 of the lanes in the inspection area and I have time to observe

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Have you ever worked road construction? Do you have any inkling of understanding on what is involved other than just driving by & spectating?

Quit rubbernecking and keep your eyes on the road.

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Translation: don't frick with our shite

South Carolina DOT has been working on I-85 for about a decade now. Should be done in time for repaving. Makes my trip from ATL to Charlotte pure fricking misery. But I guess it has gotten "better?"

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The lowest bidder wins the government contract to do the work.

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this ^^^^^^^

or a friend of a friend gets it.

if you want to stop the 6 years long road repairs overnight, you make the bid firm, with no cost over runs or changes made to increase costs and time.

you bid the job and you get "X" money, period, end of discussion, you get paid in quarters based on the amount of completed work, you complete the job by "X" date or you dont get paid anything more and the job goes to the next bidder.

you treat them exactly like you treat a contractor working on your property, you take away any incentive to extend the job since they will only lose money if they do that

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complicated ... to build "relatively" long lasting roads that can handle massive amounts of traffic.

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Is that why they get potholes after the first busy weekend?

Mostly private contractors doing the work. Lot of utility relocation and installation that takes up most of the time. Once everything is out of the way it/in place the actual road building can go somewhat quickly

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Is that why they get potholes after the first busy weekend?

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First busy weekend post construction completion potholes are not normal

Might feel that way, but it's not the norm. And potholes aren't really what I'm talking about. I'm talking about is utilities/gas lines, the road staying graded over time, draining appropriately, not buckling under immense weight pressure/heat/cold, shoulders not falling into low ground, etc.

A lot of shite goes into it.

And yes some companies are absolute shite at the job, but that doesn't mean it isn't a tough job that can take a while.

ETA:

I did work with the industry for a consulting gig on a city planning project. I lived in the project management piece. A lot of third parties and it also doesn't help that they stop working after a little bit of rain, which is like 50% of the days in South LA in some seasons.

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They’ve been “working” on I-65 in Kentucky and Southern Indiana for years. It was supposed to be completed in 2020. They’re still working on it.

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I can go you better in the state of KY. The "spaghetti" in Northern Kentucky was started in the 1970's (around the time of the supper club fire if memory serves) and they are still working on it.