From airports to high-speed rail, China is running circles around us – and the numbers prove it. 

America used to be the country that built big things. Highways, bridges, airports, railroads – we led the world in cutting edge infrastructure. We once built the entire Empire State Building in 13 months. Now, we lead the world in delays.  

Endless environmental reviews, permitting holdups, lawsuits, and onerous studies can stall even the most basic construction project for years. The process has become so bloated that getting approval often takes longer than the actual building would. 

Meanwhile, in many areas of essential infrastructure, China is eating our lunch. While we argue over paperwork, they’re pouring concrete, laying track, and putting up skyscrapers in record time. This isn’t just embarrassing – they’re a wake-up call. If we want to compete, we need to make it easier to build in America again. 

RELATED: U.S.-China Trade War 

Here are the numbers that show just how far ahead China is – and how far behind we’ve fallen:

4.9 billion tonnes 

Between 2019 and 2020, China poured 4.9 billion tonnes of cement in the course of building up their country’s infrastructure. That’s more than the U.S. poured over the entire 20th century (4.4 billion tonnes).

4 years 

China built the Beijing Daxing International Airport – the largest international airport in the world – in just over four years, finishing in 2019. 

Compare that to LaGuardia Airport in New York City, which took nine years to rebuild its main terminals and roadways, a feat hailed as an “unlikely victory” for American infrastructure. LaGuardia is about 10 times smaller than Beijing Daxing in area.

15,500 miles 

From 2010 to 2020, China laid over 15,500 miles of tracks dedicated for high-speed rail – that was more than the rest of the world combined over that period. 

Compare that to California. In 2008, voters approved about 800 miles of high-speed rail between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Now, 17 years later, zero miles of track have been laid, and the project won’t be completed until at least 2033.

28 hours 

In 2021, a Chinese company called Broad Group erected a 10-story apartment building in just 28 hours. The same company built a 57-story skyscraper in less than a month back in 2015.  

A similar-size apartment building would take just over a year to complete in the U.S., according to the Atlanta Fed. 

To be clear, China is a one-party dictatorship. The government severely restricts free speech and persecutes religious minorities, relies on forced labor, and has a long record of human rights abuses. The U.S. should not try to replicate what China does. But China’s progress is a wake-up call that America can’t afford to keep falling behind. 

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