Posted on 12/26/2005 8:33:01 PM PST by george76
Federal officials warn that the Big Dig's cost may rise by an estimated $75 million, forcing state taxpayers to cover any increase.
The projected hike, outlined in a memo drafted by the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general, would be the first increase in the project's price tag since 2001.
There are numerous reasons for the possible hike, federal officials told The Boston Globe:
Officials may have miscalculated the cost of settling disputes with Big Dig contractors and underestimated how much money the state will recover from contractors that performed late or shoddy work.
A spokesman for Transportation Inspector General Kenneth M. Mead said the memo, which was sent this week to acting Federal Highway Administration administrator Rick Capka, is a ''snapshot, not our final report.''
''This was meant to be a document for internal use only to advise (Capka) of the status of our ongoing review of the (Central Artery Tunnel Project's) 2004 Financial Plan,'' the spokesman said in a statement e-mailed to the Globe.
Massachusetts taxpayers and tollpayers would have to foot the bill for any increase because the federal government has set a cap on how much of the project's costs it will cover.
If Mead's estimate is accurate, the project would cost an even $14.7 billion.
However, a spokeswoman for the Turnpike Authority, which oversees the Big Dig, said the agency is sticking to its current estimate of $14.625 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at thetranscript.com ...
This was a huge scam by Kennedy and Klinton...quid pro quo for Klinton votes courtesy of Teddy the Drunk...and it worked..
Oh...for a minute, I thought the $75 mil price tag was for Kerry's headstone.
"U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, who said he spoke to federal officials about the memo, downplayed the potential increase."
Ya gotta love Massachusetts ---and then they're all surprised that the population is dropping.
I bet every applicable trade involved milked this project for all it was worth.
BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
If it shows up on MY Federal taxes, I'll pull the damn plug on all of you!
Beat me to it!
TT
Actually, compared to the earlier cost overruns, this is pocket change.
Kennedy had a big part in it, but the chief crook was Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neal.
LOL. This is an odd number, as in not divisable by 2. The MSM is soooooo stupid they can't even get the small things correct, much less the big stuff.
With competent contractors and no politicians or unions involved with the project, the whole project would have been completed correctly and on time at 1/10th the cost.
For Perspective, as far as I have been able to determine, the entire 40,000 miles of the Interstate Highway system was built at just under at a cost of 50 Billion dollars. Only 3.5 times the cost of Boston's little local debacle.
Me-thinks there were a LOT of other democrats with their hands in the till besides the Swimmer.
Is the tunnel still leaking?
And in other completely unrelated Massachusettes news:
Welcome to FR.
The median house price in my town is $750,000.00 and you think that's a GOOD thing?
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