Thanks for this well-done op-ed. However, it is not only the mega-projects we should be paying attention to. Here in Southeast, consider these three road projects as the tip of an iceberg (just ones I happen to know about) for around $40 million. 

(1) The Shelter Cove Road, about $20 million for a 7-mile, one-lane gravel road going east from Ketchikan. That raised eyebrows in the on-line comments to a KRBD radio story last month, when the project went out for bids (not yet awarded).

(2) The $5 million, 6-mile Vallenar Bay road going across Gravina Island from Ketchikan's airport to a small State Forest timber sale that won't pay it off. It went out for bids a few days ago. 

(3) A 9-mile, one-lane gravel road to Sitka's Katlian Bay for $15 million. Alaska's DOT changed the purpose and need: the rock/gravel source for Sitka proved uneconomic to access; the road now will end elsewhere and be purely recreational. DOT wants to start construction soon.

Statewide, $$ for such boondoggles.