So, after having their lives made miserable for years on end by the “Big Dig” construction project, Bostonians now have to worry that the same project will end their lives.
I smell a massive lawsuit.
This is possibly suited to MPSIMS, but i figured there’d be some Bostonians along soon to add some Pit-worthy vitriol.
A guy I work with has to drive to Logan this afternoon to start his vacation, and he doesn’t know how he’s going to get there!
I gotta say, as much as I’ve hated the Big Hole all these years, the end result is actually pretty nice. You know, when it’s not killing people and stuff.
Hey I’m a Bostonian. Need I say this did not surprise me in the least? Heck, the whole project always ran behind schedule and over-budget. Did anyone expect this thing to actually work too?
On the “pro” side of the argument, think of all the people that drove through those tunnels and did not have a 3 ton section of tunnel fall down and kill them. But that’s the kind of story that doesn’t make the news. :rolleyes:
Seriously, I’m really getting sick of this state - (Commonwealth actually). Maybe it’s time to get away from here for good.
Darn you tdn.
You got to post your pro “Big Dig” comment 5 minutes before I did. 
and good work !!! 
This really belongs in the Pit. This thread is extrememly worthy, and deserves the expression of sentiments for which the Pit provides an ideal forum.
Besides the Zakim bridge, it’s been a mind-boggling waste of taxpayer money. I think half the Turnpike Authority and a good percentage of the contractors involved should move their higher-ups to prison cells. The only good reason to have Romney around is he’s not beholden to the MA Cosortium of Patronage and Corruption (a.k.a. the Finneran Back-Scratcher Club). Too bad he’s too busy running for President. Somebody needs to convince him that making it his mission to finally nail these slobs will look better than picking on gay marriage to the moderates.
Ha! I did beat you!
Not to hijack the thread or anything, but what are you doing for dinner tonight? Can you be at Durgin Park at 6:45?
A lot of the Big Dig was a fiasco of the highest order. Getting around or through Boston is a lot easier, but…
It has already sprung leaks, and now the ceiling is falling.
I think the Zakim Bridge is ugly. (I read something about the project that said it was the widest, assymetric cable-stayed bridge in the world. Who the fuck brags about the width of a bridge?)
Just before the Democratic National Convention in '04, the old elevated roadway came down faster than I thought possible. It seemed like one month it was there, the next it wasn’t. Gotta make the city presentable for all those delegates and the TV coverage. In the two years since then, has anybody even turned a shovel? Last time I was downtown, it still looked like a tornado had hit. Aren’t we supposed to have parks or something? Two years seems like plenty of time to plant some grass.
People that don’t want to build another bridge in 8 years when the roads leading to it are widened.
Sorry tdn no Durgin Park tonight.
You see I was driving through this tunnel and a huge part of the … well I’ll spare you the details.
Some followup.
About effing time, and, IMO, they should expand the investigation to the whole goddamn project. It’s incredibly sad that someone had to die before any efforts against these fraudsters got some real teeth, but here’s hoping somebody finally really pays for this mess.
Indictments are all well and good, but the people responsible for this ought to be publicly horsewhipped, then gelded. It’s the only way to make some people learn that the Public Trust is not to be abused.
This (non)accident pisses me off more than most things have in a couple of years. My wife drives through that tunnel twice a day and I don’t like the idea that her and my soon to be born child might not be here but for the grace of the unpredictable decay rate of a huge, new structure. It pisses me off more because that is her only good way to get to work and she had to invent some convoluted way that took two hours each way. Who knows when it will open back up? Who knows how they can fix it? Apparently mystery parts of the entire Big Dig just fail spontaneously so you have to find where those are before you can fix them.
This sucks. I’m already sick to death of all those stupid documentaries about constructing The Big Dig, from Building The Ultimate to Extreme Engineering.
Now it’s only a matter of time before the Science Channel starts showing, twenty times a day: “THE BIG DIG: WHAT WENT WRONG?” :smack:
Really fucking horrible, and a tragedy… that poor woman and her husband. They were newlyweds heading to Logan to pick up relatives visiting town.
As clueless as Romney generally appears, he’s on the right track with this one. The turnpike authority guy seems to be a problem, though it looks like the re-bored concrete panels were approved a long time ago, before he was on the job. Fox 25 went through the chronology of Weld, Celucci, and Swift (certainly one of the most incompetent public servants in recent memory) - the imcumbent turnpike authority head is one of Swift’s cronies. Which makes me immediately question his competence.
I actually went to South Station and walked the tunnel when they first opened it. It’s pretty underwhelming, there’s tons of traffic on 93 at all times - it doesn’t seem less congested than the Fitzgerald Expressway. Not to mention the pools of water I always see at the Storrow Drive exit. Oh, and there’s the day I came through the tunnel going south, only to hear two hours later a water main busted and flooded the section I’d driven through. I would have mentioned that the Mass Pike extension is the crown jewel of the whole project, which can get me to the airport in 12 minutes from Watertown with no traffic - but, you know, that’s before the ceiling fell and killed someone. :mad:
I am really curious how this will play out, with Romney making moves to run for president. The turnpike authority guy is going to have a public hearing where he’s going to have to answer questions about his performance on the job. I definitely think this guy is shady but he might become the scapegoat for this epic example of mismanagement and cronyism. That’s too easy. My understanding is that the oversight on this project was all internal - no external agencies inspected the work.
Things are going to get ugly around here, really quick. I’m just sick about the poor woman and her family. That could be any of us - hell, I was on an airport run to pick up a buddy a week and a half ago.
You forgot “Modern Marvels”.
I…this…unbelievable. A society that expects any claim to the word “civilized” does not endanger innocent lives by cutting corners. Ye gods. If you’re going to have a massively overpriced structure built at public expense, at ensure that it can serve its damn purpose and not kill anyone, for crying out loud.
Every workday, I and hundreds of others drive across a bridge over a mile long surrounded by deep ocean. I also frequently use a stretch of freeway that recently expanded by two lanes, including an overpass several hundred feet long. These projects cost a lot of money took a long time to build. This was because they had to work. I guarnatee you if there were even a slight risk of failure in either, there’d be islandwide riots. You just don’t do that.
I’d appreciate links to any opinion pieces about this travesty. I’d like to know whose brain-dead idea was to not be sure of the safety of a major passage and just open it anyway and hope that nothing disastrous happens. This is probably even more unforgivable than the Challenger disaster.
I’ve been following the Big Dig passively by catching glimpses of the above mentioned shows for a couple years now. I’m no expert and would never claim to be. However, I do have a question.
Anyone more familiar with the details or geologists are welcomed to answer.
As a layman looking at even just the coastline in the bay, instinct tells me the earthen foundation is unlikely to support the weight of what the tunnel can support. Even with reinforcement. Even with modern engineering. Unless I’m way off base, it doesn’t seem the foundation of the area could be reasonably expected to safely sustain the Dig.
Part of this opinion is based on the same reason New York’s skyscrapers are so centralized. There is a limited area where the bedrock can support such structures.
The other part of the opinion is that the Dig can’t actually have a great net effect on Boston.
Again, all opinion. Any clarification would be appreciated. I just haven’t heard anything positive about this project outside of Boston’s salesmen. Am I missing something? Just about every great project has gone over budget, but this one has a stunning lack of people still touting it.
Forgot to ask this. (It will take a few days I’m sure.)
What entity will the family sue? The city? Engineers? Highway department? State?
Who is responsible overall for this project?
The contractors responsible for the section of the tunnel that failed would be the first pick, I think, and possibly the Turnpike Authority.