The story of the Big Dig begins in the 1950’s with the construction of the Central Artery, an elevated highway through downtown Boston that was constructed with state funds. Similar to other highways constructed in the U.S. at that time, the highway reduced traffic congestion in the City for a while, but by the mid-1960’s Boston’s highways and local roads were heavily congested. Solutions to the traffic congestion were sought and highway planners proposed a ring road around the downtown central business district as a solution to the congestion. Also to address congestion, a third tunnel was proposed in 1968 for construction between downtown Boston to near Logan Airport.
In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s a great debate arose as to whether additional highways should be constructed in Boston. There were many highway projects planned and the Interstate Highway Program allowed 90% of project to be paid for by the Federal Government. Debates, studies and complicated political maneuvering ensued to determine what projects, if any, should be completed.
Two Projects survived:
- A restricted use tunnel from downtown Boston to Logan Airport.
- Possible reconstruction of the Central Artery that would relocate the highway underground, eliminating the division between downtown Boston and Boston’s North End and Waterfront neighborhoods, which had been determined to be a detriment to the City by this time.
Over the next 20 years, the Central Artery/Tunnel project evolved through complex negotiations into what is being constructed today; the most expensive urban highway project ever undertaken in America. Nearly every component of this project underwent numerous modifications to address concerns of special interest groups; modification that often resulted in raising the concerns of other special interest groups. Mitigation costs mounted. Ultimately it is expected that fully ¼ of the project’s cost is due to mitigation.
"We are not building a tunnel, we are constructing an underground superhighway." That's the way one engineer for the bigdig puts in."
Go to the link below and read summary of what the project is.
Central Artery /Tunnel Project Official Page
To learn of the history and complexity of this project read the article handed out in class.
Go to the links:
Also see the following link, which gives the details of Scheme Z in the history of the CA/T
Who was in favor of the project and who was against it?
Who are financing the Big Dig? What are their motivations?
Who changed positions, for or against the project, over time and why?
Why did the cost of the project grow from a 1987 estimate of $2.5 billion to a current projection of $14.7 billion?
Is the high cost of the project a project management failure or the failure
of the ideas? Or is it a failure?
What was the Scheme Z plan and why it was controversial?
What was the plan about the prime dowtown real estate that would become available above and adjacent to the new, depressed artery?
What issues in other parts of the country, unrelated to the CA/T project, were impacted by implementation of the CA/T project?
Photos showing tunnel section for the project
Looking at the existing Central Artery and its supports, resting on our tunnels below.
Map showing Project on Completion.
Plan for Scheme Z
