A project that has become synonymous with "infrastructure debacle" has finally, officially, come to an end. Boston's Big Dig is now officially complete. Having lived in Boston during the heyday of this mammouth construction project, I join fellow Bostonians in a collective, heavily accented, sigh of relief.
For the unannointed, the Big Dig was a monstrous infrastructure project undertaken primarily to eradicate an elevated highway that cut downtown Boston off from numerous neighborhoods and the waterfront in the 1950s. Formally known as the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project, the Big Dig was an attempt to correct just one of the many misguided automobile-centric policies of the late 1900's by putting the highway underground. In addition to burying the highway downtown, other admirable components of the project that were much less contentious included construction of an additional tunnel under the harbor to the airport for travellers from the South Shore of Boston.
From a public spending perspective, the Big Dig was an unmitigated disaster. The original price tag of $2 Billion ballooned an unbelievable seven-fold to a staggering $14 Billion by completion. Ouch. But as a laboratory for innovative construction and engineering practices, it was truly cutting edge. The article I link to here at MSNBCtouches briefly on that, but a better rundown can be found at the website for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
As someone who worked within a stone's throw of the highway, and often walked under it to the wonderfully Italian North End neighborhood, I never understood the derision directed against the highway. Sure, it was ugly. But it was easily walked under, it provided (in my opinion) a great distinct barrier between downtown and the historic Norh End, and most importantly it was above sea level. One of the primary lessons of the Big Dig is: think twice before building a major highway below sea level in a busy urban area, in an area of artificial fill where nobody quite knows the geological characteristics.
My guess is that a generation from now people will look at the project as beneficial. The large tunnels will be topped with parkland and city squares, and it will have an overall positive effect on the urban fabric. The MSNBC article references the great improvements in commute time that have been realized, but that may only be temporary if it results in increased car traffic, and decreased subway ridership. And one of the best mass transit features was cut from the project: a North-South connector between the North Station and South Station commuter train / Amtrak stations in the city. Right now, you can travel into the city from the north, but can't continue on that same train south of the city, and vice versa. You have to de-train, take a subway through downtown, and get on a new train at the other station. Insane.
This is not a candidate diary, or a diary that advances any particular agenda. Just a heads-up to engineers and urban planners out there who might want to take a break from their day and check out an engineering marvel whose cost/benefit ratio has not yet been determined. Whether or not it was worth the price tag, the hurdles that were overcome by innovative engineering stirs my inner geek. So enjoy or ignore, depending on how busy your day is.