The San Francisco Bay Bridge: Made in China

By now outsourcing is something we are all pretty familiar with. We are not surprised when we call a customer service center and end up speaking to someone in India. But in the ensuing years, we will being seeing how far globalization can go. What things can effectively be done overseas? What things can't? We may be surprised at what can be done overseas. One somewhat surprising thing that was recently done overseas was large components of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. It was fabricated in China in sections, and then has been shipped across the Pacific. This is surprising in two ways: first, the sheer size of the bridge, but perhaps more surprising is that a government public works project like this would be so readily given to foreign workers. It used to be that projects funded by tax dollars would be done in the US as a matter of course. It is a sign of the financial pressure that governments at all levels are under that they were willing to have this job done in China. The New York Times cited estimates that the state of California saved $400 million by doing so. An article in the London Telegraph noted that one advantage Chinese construction companies have in getting big projects is that they have access to funding through the government of China, and can help provide financing that other construction companies can't.