Hello - Could you please help with a response to the below discussion posting provinding all references?

The construction of the Erie Canal is a significant feat of engineering. It's design and construction were out of a necessity to generate and connect shipping channels between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River and the construction helped jumpstart American industrialization and globalization (Rosalsky, 2020). The constraints of time, scope, and cost played significant roles in the overall project, and each contributed to the overall "success" of the project.

Scope Constraint: Scope of the Erie Canal project consisted of the excavation of 363 miles of trench and the construction of 83 locks and 18 aqueducts. When proposed the project, Thomas Jefferson described the proposal as "a little short of madness" (NYS, n.d.). Considering the canal was constructed between 1817 and 1825, the scope was quite considerable due to the lack of modern-day construction equipment like excavators, dump trucks, and bulldozers.

Time Constraint: Time also played a considerable role in the project. The project took approximately 8 years to finish and was driven by economic and political reasonings. Many canal projects were in the process of being developed so there was a race to complete a connection between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. The winner would have a chance to become an economic powerhouse for the United States; this competition is likely the most important constraint to the project as it needed to be completed before other projects to position New York economically ahead of neighbors and other municipalities funding similar projects.

Cost Constraint: The cost of the project was estimated to be 7 million dollars in 1817 (NYS, n.d.). The project was funded by the State of New York and thus, was constrained by the New York budget and taxpayer approval.

References

New York State. (n.d.).Canal History. https://www.canals.ny.gov/history/history.html

Rosalsky, G. (2020, January 28). The Erie Canal As A Model Of How To Build Big Projects Again. Planet Money. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2020/01/28/800025377/the-erie-canal-as-a-model-of-how-to-build-big-projects-again