Compare the culture of the respective locations and it's obvious why the Netherlands had the better outcome.
The feedback loops are all wrong for getting a high value tunnel under Boston. They are at least less wrong in "beer Europe"[0] + Scandinavia.
Massachusetts government "pays itself first" Massachusetts people consider the problem unsolvable and tolerates it. Netherlands and the adjacent parts of Europe (i.e I make no claims about construction projects in Italy) generally takes a hard line against anything that's not "pro-social" so heads would roll if politicians and bureaucrats misused their public works on graft like the Massholes do.
Source: Masshole who geeks out on government accountability
It is a nice illustration, but they really missed an opportunity to include a fourth quadrant for "fruit brandy Europe". It would cover most of the Balkans and SE Europe, on the current dividing line between vodka and wine.
It also makes a lot of sense: fruit brandies are made of fruit like wine, but are as strong as vodka.
