hnburnsy parent
Does HOV lanes add a level? Saw these in Arizona and always wondered how much expense the separate HOV flyovers added to the interchange cost.
Understand that, costs aren't linear for these sorts of things. Once you have the concrete plant, and are renting cranes, deploying a ton of falsework, etc, adding another level or two isn't as insane as it sounds.
The big thing is space required, and how much structure you actually need. Texas gets hurricanes, which are a big deal, but not nearly as big of a deal as earthquakes out in california, so, building tall things out of concrete is much more viable than most places. The only real issue in some parts of Texas is that the water table is really close to the surface, so, if you want to build tall, you need significant amounts of footing work so it doesn't sink.