Bridge

The replacement of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge was initiated after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, which caused part of the span to collapse. It opened nearly 24 years later, in September 2013. It is a nearly complete replacement for the bridge, not simply a fix. Still, the period of time it took to diagnose, propose, initiate, and complete is rather long for what is a major connection between the city of San Francisco and surrounding areas.

One could say that - like the flood control of the Los Angeles River - it was an important project that couldn't get done until the Fourth Turning was here. There would be concerns about too much money, too much uncertainty, too much impact from having no alternatives during the construction period.  That's not necessarily correct, though - the project was moving forward by 2005, several years before what is generally acknowledged as the start of the Crisis. (And a month or so before Katrina, for those tempted to consider that the real starting point.) Reading through the troubled history, though, it does seem as if there eventually came a point where everyone acknowledged that there was a problem that needed resolution. And in relatively short order after that point, resolution was achieved.