Posted on 12/25/2007 2:28:03 PM PST by george76
When the clock runs out on 2007, Boston will quietly mark the end of one of the most tumultuous eras in the city's history: The Big Dig, the nation's most complex and costliest highway project, will officially come to an end.
After a history marked by engineering triumphs, tunnels leaks, epic traffic jams, last year's death of a motorist crushed by falling concrete panels and a price tag that soared from $2.6 billion to a staggering $14.8 billion, there's little appetite for celebration.
Civil and criminal cases stemming from the July 2006 tunnel ceiling collapse continue, though on Monday the family of Milena Del Valle announced a $6 million settlement with Powers Fasteners...
Lawsuits are pending against other Big Dig contractors, and Powers Fasteners still faces a manslaughter indictment.
Officially, Dec. 31 marks the end of the joint venture that teamed megaproject contractor Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority ...
One of the biggest occurred in 2004 when water started pouring through a wall of the recently opened I-93 tunnel under downtown Boston. An investigation found the leak was caused by the failure to clear debris that became caught in the concrete in the wall during construction. Hundreds of smaller drips, most near the ceiling, were also found.
But the project's darkest day came near the end of construction in 2006 when suspended concrete ceiling panels in a tunnel leading to Logan Airport collapsed, crushing a car and killing Del Valle, 39, a passenger in the vehicle driven by her husband.
The tunnel was shut down for months...
Four workers also were killed working on the project.
The project's escalating budget also became an unwanted part of its legacy.
In 2000, former Big Dig head James Kerasiotes resigned after failing to disclose $1.4 billion in overruns...
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.ask.com ...
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A good metaphor for the dims stewardship of the ship of state.
Boston’s version of New Orleans.
Yes!
“The number of leaks is down to about 650 from a high of several thousand a few years ago,”
“But the continued flow of water - about 24 million gallons in each of the last two years - points to the complexity of the leak problem”
At $14.8 Billion, this has to rank as one of biggest thefts of taxpayer money in history....
All individuals and organizations involved in the original estimate of $2.6 Billion — should be required to document and justify the “bridge of events” that led to this criminally gross escalation of costs...
But then — one expects this kind of corruption, incompetence and waste of taxpayer money in a leftist state that can repeatedly reelect the likes of Kennedy and Kerry, to represent the state Massoftwoshits..
The project was so complex it's been likened to performing open heart surgery on a patient while the patient is wide awake.
Actually, what they were doing was a walletectomy on the taxpayers of the United States until Congressmen from the red states revolted and told the Congressslithers from Massghanistan (around the $10 billion mark) that the sheeple in Massghanistan must pay to finish the project which was then 300% over budget. The amount of pain from the walletectomy is about the same as is experienced during openheart surgery without anesthesia.
Some didn't know if they'd live to see it end.
I never know when I drive thorough those tunnels if I will live long enough to see the other end of the tunnel with all the water pouring in an the parts falling off.
Never will be complete, now the work will be on the after completion phase.
LOL
And Alaskans catch all kinda crap for a crummy couple a hundred million for a bridge.
Sheesh - we must be pikers, Boston (a city, not a State) lands 14 thousand million.
Am I the first to ask how much of that money went into the pockets of corrupt politicians like Ted Kennedy and Jon Carry? It’s just something that I had to ask. LOL
Boston’s $14.8B Big Dig into American taxpayers wallets ~ never Finally Complete
an insurance fund has been set up for future lawsuits of parts falling on motorists!!!!!
Another reason not to vote for Mitt Romney.
The big dig, the Michigan one state recession, and the soon California meltdown are true testimony to rat incompetence. If the rats take strong control in Washington, the entire country is headed for a free fall.
They ought to update that old song about the MTA.
But, did he ever return?
No, he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned
He may float forever beneath the streets of Boston
He’s the man who never returned
You keep yourself safe out there. We don’t need any freepers lost in the maw of Democrat boondoggles.
I was just reading at wiki that it was initially vetoed by Reagan as too expensive, and the Dems overrode the veto. Looks like the big guy was right again.
I have no plans of going nowhere near this thing. I'll pay the money and get my lobsters shipped in from Maine.
Awwwww who gives a Mitt !..........:o)
< /sarcasm>
It probably is still leaking water all over the place, and I will also be surprised if no other defects appear for many years to come. I would think that the bridge will always have the problem of pillars of ice falling off of its supports and putting all of the drivers over the bridge at very serious risk every time that ice forms on the bridge’s supports.
yeah, right... relatively speaking it's done that is. depends on what the meaning of the word done is...
I thought that a bridge to the K airport was a good idea.
This is the outcome when you let the mob run the project. I know, as I built the tunneling equipment, so I got my piece of the pie, none of the graft though.
I expect that by next summer, it will be either closed or partially closed off for repairs.
As I said in a prior thread, WHAT A MESS!!!!!
He was attacking those who claimed that the costs were waaay underestimated.
just 3 lanes a side? After all that money?
I just pray none of my younger family members out here in Flyover Country
gets stuck with the bill for BIG DIG 2.
Cause as surely as night follows day, Boston will get one.
Not a lot of support in State. A lot could have been done with 200 mill - much more than a bridge.
Such is life and politics.
Not in Mass, but lots of money for so little.
At least the politicans and friends were taken care of...
/s
Is the only way to the K airport by ferry or private boats ?
Well, you *could* swim, but the airlines really hate dripping wet passengers.
Having flown to LID several times, the ferry is a pain, but no worse than the taxi fares in Las Vegas, for example.
WOW - I can’t believe that THIS cost TWICE what the Trans-Alaska pipeline project cost! Just to go a FEW miles! THAT is the difference between repressive GOVERNMENT and Free Enterprise.
Who was governor when this project was started? If there ever was a waste of taxpayer money...this was it.
former Gov. Michael Dukakis ?
The water temperature might be a tad cool ?
I still think the name of the tunnel should be the “Tip O’Neill Taxpayer Shaft”, or TOTS for short.
The area itself is very beautiful.
With 13 feet (yes, feet) of rain per season the forest is very pretty. To garden well requires a greenhouse.
Nearby is the Misty Fjords Park (yet another huge section of Alaska tied up by the Feds) and just ‘around the corner’ Sitka offers both fantastic fishing and fantastic scenery.
I love living in Anchorage, it is such a short drive to Alaska.
We flew into Misty Fjords some years ago , saw lots of goats...stopped in a high, small, fresh water lake in a Beaver.
Very fun : as it had been raining for a month solid, but was clear during our visit.
Always wanted to go back, but thought that we would never see as much with low hanging clouds.
The Big Dig will NEVER be complete. There will be repairs galore, complete reconstructions of the most defective sections, and the inevitable expansions when the traffic gets unbearable again(if it is not already). You just can’t shut down such a huge cash cow for the pols, mob bosses, and union thugs. They will keep this thing going for hundreds of years, if possible.
A Bargain at 1/10th the price.
Good question about public officials in general; What effective methods do you suppose we have for detecting when someone involved with a public works project has opened off-shore bank accounts and/or arranged for 'bag-men' to receive bribe money/payoffs on their behalf?
Do y'all suppose we have any real verification/accountability at all re this stuff?
You do know that millions of pounds of steel from the world trade center was stolen and sold for scrap, with the whole new york police department and homeland security watching.
That would be a great You Tube find.
Alaska is a BIG State. Come up for years and never visit the same place twice.
Since we live here, we can afford to visit the place we really like all the time - Seward, Homer, Tok and so on.
With an RV rig, we do limit oursleves a fair amout - but since I retired from the USAF, I really limit how much time I spend in small aircraft - the wife will not even climb into one.
ping
Not defending Romney, but what does he have to do with this debacle? The wheels were in motion long before he took office, and he couldn't have stopped it or changed it if he wanted to.
ff
ff
To fix the leaks, why don't they use the old wooden boat-builder's fix? Sprinkle sawdust above the leaks. The sawdust expands and seals the leaks. Easy-peazy. :^)
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