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"It seems to me that this was make-work or make-expense"

YES, that's what struck me about using tons of concrete for such a purpose (I'm no whiz-bang engineer, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express once). It would seem to defy common sense to place umpteen tons of non-functional concrete overhead, suspended below the ventilation fans, unless someone was merely trying to make work and money for certain union and mob pals.

Can anyone here estimate how many tons of concrete would be involved in this, how much the (fictional) costs might have padded the project, etc.???

In the end we'll probably find out (or maybe never learn) how corrupt union and mob figures had their greasy grubby hands deep into the federal till for this $14 billion project. btw, why on earth did they ever put it all underground, didn't that increase the costs enormously? I understand that the entire "big dig" project hardly improved the traffic carrying capacity of the old ramps and highways along I-93 at all, that it was basically a grand project in aesthetics for the Kennedy-Kerry crowd to enjoy?

unless someone was merely trying to make work and money for certain union and mob pals.

This is Boston - home of the Democratic taxpayer fueled rip-off machine; is there any doubt at all this is EXACTLY why the panels are there?

I understand that the entire "big dig" project hardly improved the traffic carrying capacity of the old ramps and highways along I-93 at all, that it was basically a grand project in aesthetics for the Kennedy-Kerry crowd to enjoy?

The Ted Williams Tunnel part of the Big Dig connected the Turnpike to the airport, which was a good idea. But the main portion of the Dig was the suppression of the central artery. It simply put the elevated central artery (I-93) underground. They also closed a few exits.

Yes, at $14 billion, it's completely insane.

It didn't improve traffic at all, basically just rerouted underground, which coincidentally freed up some real estate...
BTW, all told the Big Dig took 15 years and 15 billion dollars to build. Tax dollars.