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In OTL, the Delta Works were constructed from 1958 to 1997 at a cost of roughly $7 billion at 1997 valuation.
When one compares this to the construction of the Afsluitdijk (just the dam/dike itself, not the polders), one notes that the Delta Works took much longer to complete and were much more expensive.
It would seem to me that the higher costs and longer construction times arose from the greater technical complexity of the Delta Works (high-tech storm barriers, whereas the Afsluitdijk was “just” a dam with a highway paved over it), which itself arose from the need to preserve the saltwater ecosystem in the area of construction.
If that consideration is thrown out the window, is it possible to protect the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta solely with a series of dams (“dikes”) similar to that which was built to enclose the then-Zuiderzee, with project costs and completion time similar to that of the Afsluitdijk?