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Big Dig" collapse a blow to urban dream
Reuters ^ | July 18, 2006 | Jason Szep

Posted on 07/18/2006 12:39:19 PM PDT by libstripper

BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston's $15 billion "Big Dig" was meant to inspire awe, an engineering marvel on scale with the Panama Canal that would thrust U.S. cities into a new era.

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Instead, it faces a crisis of public confidence after a fatal tunnel collapse that could derail plans for other U.S. urban mega-projects.

With 7.5 miles of underground highway and a 183-foot (56 meter) wide cable-stayed bridge, the Big Dig replaced an ailing elevated expressway to fix chronic congestion and reunite downtown Boston with its historic waterfront neighborhoods.

But cost overruns, leaks, delays, falling debris, criminal probes and charges of corruption plague the nearly completed 15-year project, giving ammunition to opponents of similar plans in other cities considering tearing down aging elevated highways built in a construction boom in the 1950s and 1960s.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bigdig; boston; contracting; corruption; graft; publicworks; scandal; skimming; smartgrowth; taxdollarsatwork; youpayforthis
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To: libstripper

A proposal: Why not bring back the methods used by the ancient Egyptians. When the pyramid or other tomb was finished, the construction crew remained in the tomb until the pharoah died. The chief priest--Tom Reilly?--then led the funeral procession into the burial chamber and seal it. The entire construction crew, the architects, the priests, and anyone else with a knowledge of the "secrets" of the tomb we entombed with the dead pharoah.

I suspect the average taxpayer--oh, by the way, you folks in Wyoming helped pay for this Kennedy boondoggle and jobs program--would gain some satisfaction to having both ends--and all the emergency exits blasted shut after all the thugs were inside the tunnels.


21 posted on 07/18/2006 1:06:46 PM PDT by MIchaelTArchangel
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To: libstripper

will the car insurance companies raise rates for the Boston zip code?


22 posted on 07/18/2006 1:06:48 PM PDT by Republicus2001
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To: libstripper
Don't expect liberal Democrats to learn anything from the Big Dig. Or rather, expect them to learn all the wrong lessons. Billions of dollars of taxpayer money was redistributed into the pockets of: Democrat politicians and state employees, union members, lobbyists, and politically-connected businesses. All of which redounds to the benefit of the Democrat Party in Massachusetts.

But isn't the Big Dig a fiscal disaster? Hell, yes - if you're just an ordinary working stiff laboring in the Dreaded Private Sector. For you, the taxpayer, it's a Quagmire from which there is no clear Exit Strategy. But for the legion of politically-connected family members in Massachusetts, it's a beautiful thing. There'll be more money for everyone, from the hacks at the Turnpike to the pinky-ring boys in the construction trades. Taxes will have to be raised, tolls will go up, whatever it takes so that the Dig endures forever.

The pols in Chicago, Detroit, and New York are green with envy. The color of money.

23 posted on 07/18/2006 1:07:23 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh
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To: 70times7

Is there a chance the track could bend?


24 posted on 07/18/2006 1:08:39 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh
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To: libstripper

"Instead, it faces a crisis of public confidence after a fatal tunnel collapse that could derail plans for other U.S. urban mega-projects"

Could derail plans for other, similar projects? Am I the only one who finds such an idea just too, too depressing?


25 posted on 07/18/2006 1:08:43 PM PDT by Robwin
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To: Common Tator
They have never seen a doggle they didn't want to boon.

If we still did quotes of the day, that would be it.

26 posted on 07/18/2006 1:09:49 PM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: 70times7

You know what really shocks me about the Seattle Monorail.. was how many riders the damn thing actually carried per day... pretty high considering it was only a mile long loop.


27 posted on 07/18/2006 1:10:13 PM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: sionnsar
One hopes it'll help kill Seattle's own "Big Dig."

And Bremerton's.

28 posted on 07/18/2006 1:11:14 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Never forget Matt Maupin)
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To: andy58-in-nh

Not a chance, my Hindu friend.


29 posted on 07/18/2006 1:11:27 PM PDT by Petronski (Living His life abundantly.)
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To: Robwin
Could derail plans for other, similar projects? Am I the only one who finds such an idea just too, too depressing?

I know. I'm about to go out into the yard, hold my breath until I turn blue, and eat worms.

30 posted on 07/18/2006 1:16:14 PM PDT by libstripper
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To: libstripper
Are big highway tunnel projects an "urban dream"? Aren't they just more boondoggles that politicians force on cities in the hope that they'll create jobs?

I don't think most ordinary Bostonians were crying out for this project anymore than they demanded the highway construction of the 1950s and 1960s.

It's the politicians, the unions, and the business elites that push for these things, not the man in the street.

To be fair though, suburbanites who want more highways for themselves, might consider that what comes around goes around, and city politicians demand big urban projects in part in response to rural and suburban boondoggling.

It's a vicious cycle.

31 posted on 07/18/2006 1:18:44 PM PDT by x
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To: RS

How would you like to be one of the lucky property owners that went from eyesore to waterfront property in two years?


32 posted on 07/18/2006 1:20:47 PM PDT by Fudd
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To: libstripper

This article is total BS. This project had ZERO impact on other cities. It was a particular project for a particular problem not applicable across the board.

But this is al Reuters what would you expect?


33 posted on 07/18/2006 1:21:53 PM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (If you believe ANYTHING in the Treason Media you are a fool.)
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To: MIchaelTArchangel

What happened to all those bodies supposedly sealed in those tombs?

It case you missed it that story is NOT true.


34 posted on 07/18/2006 1:25:28 PM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (If you believe ANYTHING in the Treason Media you are a fool.)
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To: mc6809e

Look for the Union label.


35 posted on 07/18/2006 1:25:45 PM PDT by bikerman
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To: libstripper

I just viewed the Discovery Channel doc on the Big Dig. It was interesting, but one can see that it was done without the concern for money. For instance the tunnel under the bay could have been a bridge very easily. It would have been cheaper and done in half the time of the tunnel. The concrete panels used only for aborbing the fumes is totally ridiculous.


36 posted on 07/18/2006 1:27:03 PM PDT by auggy ( http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/THISWILLMAKEYOUPROUD.HTML)
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To: libstripper

Always good to blame the failure of a project of this scale on the Engineering.......far better than suggesting the crooked politicians had anything to do with the failure.


37 posted on 07/18/2006 1:40:42 PM PDT by newcthem (This is the final crusade, there are only two sides: pick one.(Brought to you by the Infidel Party))
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To: Petronski

Best Simpsons Episode Ever


38 posted on 07/18/2006 2:00:15 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh
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To: Fudd

Actually, the business owners were very much against it, as the vehicle traffic is 'way down, parking ( under portions of the elevated ) disappeared, and pedestrians ( read customers ) now walk below next to the stream instead of past their store. Those on smaller streets that did not get a bridge lost the traffic that used to go that way also.

But with the piped in and live music it's a great place to stroll.


39 posted on 07/18/2006 2:01:01 PM PDT by RS ("I took the drugs because I liked them and I found excuses to take them, so I'm not weaseling.")
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To: libstripper
Boston's $15 billion "Big Dig" was meant to inspire awe, an engineering marvel...

It "inspires awe", all right, and it certainly is a marvel!

40 posted on 07/18/2006 2:02:53 PM PDT by thoughtomator (Famous last words: "what does ibtz mean?")
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