Big Dig (Boston)

As the most expensive highway in US history, the Central Artery and Tunnel — known as “The Big Dig” — started as a $2.6 billion Boston project. By the time it was finished, its cost had ballooned to $15 billion, plus another $9 billion in interest. It was completed 8 years late and was plagued with innumerable errors, such as “design blueprints that didn’t line up properly, to the faulty mixing of concrete,” according to the Boston Globe. Most tragically, a ceiling collapse killed a car passenger.

American Prospect » When the public sector fails to transfer enough risk to private entities or fails in its own oversight obligations, a P3 can suck government – and taxpayers — into a fiasco that costs far more than if the project was delivered through traditional means.

April 26th, 2018|

Los Angeles Times » California water managers awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to a Sacramento consulting firm without going through the required competitive bidding process, according to the state auditor.

October 5th, 2017|

The Christian Science Monitor » The “Big Dig” has become the “Big If.” As the costliest federal highway project ever, the $10.6 billion Central Artery/Harbor Tunnel project – or the Big Dig – being constructed in and under downtown Boston, is now scrambling to find completion funds.

May 26th, 2017|

The Boston Globe » The home was built in 2006, using more than 600,000 pounds of reclaimed steel and concrete left over from the boondoggle highway’s construction.

May 22nd, 2017|

10 years later, did the Big Dig deliver?

Boston Globe — The Big Dig was no mere act of public works, never talked about in the way New Yorkers refer to the Lincoln Tunnel or the George Washington Bridge — infrastructure that cleanly does its job. Ours was the mega project of faulty epoxy, light fixtures dropping like pine needles, Ginsu guardrails, and sea water leaks. The boondoggle, good money after bad, the white elephant.

December 29th, 2015|