While this excuse sounds good, it's not always true... And, given the recommendations he makes (made by many to CAHSRA over the last 20+ years and ignored...) does it matter? The CAHSRA still appears unwavering in it's unwillingnes to follow any of these recommendations on how to fix this mess, no matter how out of control the costs of the "runaway money train" have become...

Yes, folks have roungh estimates early on, proper processes should be used to mitigate risks. Different contracting methods seem to have huge variations. Turnkey versus "low bid"/"change order" contracting is one such example.

Lying to the public, the Board, yourself, can be costly. Lying to conduct corrupt insider contract steering, lying about known costs to get a project approved like the CAHSRA fiasco, is a matter of deliberate underestimation, and is not an excuse,it is, in these cases is often about a corrosive systemic form of corruption and/or outright criminality.

I know that the CAHSRA supporters are having a real bad month, what with the latest 10 billion dollar shortfall from years of unchecked contractor driven gold plating, bloat, and utter incompetence, at every point in the CAHSRA, from the planning, to the construction now bringing the total cost of the "easy" 171 mile segment in the Valley to 35 billion dollars. Add to that the fact that neither the Feds nor the State, given the state of the CAHSRA's latest cost overrun announcement, appear now to be willing to spend another rec cent of taxpayer money on this dysfunctional agency, until they get the first 171 miles finished.

But, no, this real issue of megaproject uncertaintly doesn't justify the scale and scope of the cost overruns on the CAHSRA fiasco, and certainly not any believable excuse at this point, after almost fifteen years since voter approval of State funding and initial Federal fudning...

All of the money "sloshing" around, is the reason, based on a farily nefarious scheme, and outright political lies is responsible for this CAHSRA fiasco, not the inherent uncertainty of megaprojects. This is a process that has just rewarded lying, greed, and incompetence, with the resultant bloated fiasco we have to show for it today.

Maybe if CAHSRA actually listened to his recommendations, and have spent more on proper planning, and had early on adopted ethical, responsible, and accountable management procedures, then maybe those still defending the CAHSRA wouldn't have to resort to excuses like "Why Construction Projects Always Go Over Budget", while continuing to ignore this guys recommendations, to go back a figure out what's wrong, and to make changes to bring the project benefits worth the costs.