The engineering is generally less at fault that the construction/implementation. A big problem for the Soviet Union was in the quality of materials they used. In particular during the pre-WWII period the absurdly high quotas and emphasis on Stakhanovites (essentially glorifying the most productive worker) led to a failure of quality control. A prominent example is the massive steel mill at Magnitigorsk (intended to surpass the American one in Gary, Indiana), which eventually met its quotas through phantom production and also through the creation of subpar steel which was generally unable to meet the requirements for construction of things like buildings, railroads, and weapons. Construction in the USSR remained shoddy throughout the Soviet period due to the emphasis on quantity over quality, and a fear of what failing to meet expectations would lead to. A great book that looks at many of these issues is Magnetic Mountain by Stephen Kotkin, it uses the steel mill at Magnitigorsk as a microcosm of Soviet society in a very compelling and interesting way.