Bureaucratic red tape. Lack of competition. Unaccountable labor unions. It sounds like “waste, fraud, and abuse” that conservatives might fabricate to make the case for free-market reform. But it’s real, and it’s happening in the most famous city in America, as exposed by a bombshell New York Times investigation released Thursday.

The Times report details how New York City’s “East Side Access” project became the most expensive mile of subway track on the planet, at $3.5 billion per mile, at the same time other New York projects were as high as $2.5 billion – several times the global average. As Brian M. Rosenthal reported: