Around here (NYC metro area) more of the construction is done at night than not at night. It is generally less noticable because if you aren't driving at 1 or 2 in the morning you don't see it, but I do a 100 mile drive about once a week at night and it is noticably different than the daytime. The biggest loss is not working weekends.
And why do you have to pay so much? Construction workers have one of the highest unemployment rates, I bet if you start offering 3 shifts at day you would have people sign up for time or time and a half max.
Around here (NYC metro area) more of the construction is done at night than not at night
IME (having worked on several NYC-area construction noise assessments) that's not true, and when it is true, it's usually because the traffic disruption would be so severe, the project has no other choice. MTA/NYCT work also tends to occur at night because that's when train schedules are reduced and workers can have room/time to work.
And why do you have to pay so much?
Because working such a physically demanding job at night for extended-periods, especially in cold/wet weather sucks (again, speaking from experience).
Looking at the Big Dig night work, younger guys were likely to sign up for night work to make a quick buck while the older, more experienced guys (usually with families) would use their seniority to get on day shifts so they could lead normal lives. This causes problems because you want the more experienced guys working nights so they get things right the first and don't have to wake up project engineers when they encounter problems, so you wind up upping the hourly wages to try to attract those experienced workers.
And why do you have to pay so much? Construction workers have one of the highest unemployment rates, I bet if you start offering 3 shifts at day you would have people sign up for time or time and a half max.