Gavin Newsom spent more than $450 million on a regional emergency call system that flopped, and was canceled. Meantime, the old system risks “catastrophic failure.”

California once built massive infrastructure projects — dams, highways, and aqueducts — that were the marvel of the world.

But those days are over. Under Gov. Gavin Newsom, California has been unable to complete, and hardly able to begin , construction on its high-speed rail system. Many other government projects are beset by delays, cost overruns, and dreams that never materialize.

Illustration of a California High-Speed Rail train.…