Then

 

Empire State Building: From design to completion in about 18 months.

 

 

 

 

World Trade Center.

Groundbreaking to completion of second tower: about 5 years

 

 

 

 Now

Rebuilding of World Trade Center:  14 years? 15?

 Then

World’s first concrete runway: Ford Airport, Dearborn, Michigan. Constructed in less than two years, 1928-29.

Now

 

Adding a fifth runway to Atlanta airport: more than 21 years.

 

 

 Then

Hoover Dam: 1931-36.

 

 

Now

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Deanna Archuleta tells a Las Vegas audience, “You will never see another federal dam.”

 Then

 

Trans-Alaska oil pipeline:1969-77.

 

 

 

 

Now

 

 

Keystone XL pipeline:  Never?