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Boston's $14.8B Big Dig Finally Complete
Associated Press ^ | Dec. 25, 2007 | STEVE LeBLANC

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 ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: bigdig; boston; donttaketheolds; massachusetts; porkbarrell; teddycanswimagain
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Is it still leaking ?

.

1 posted on 12/25/2007 2:28:04 PM PST by george76
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To: george76

A good metaphor for the dims stewardship of the ship of state.


2 posted on 12/25/2007 2:30:24 PM PST by spokeshave (Hey GOP...NO money till border closed and criminal illegals deported)
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To: george76

Boston’s version of New Orleans.


3 posted on 12/25/2007 2:32:21 PM PST by lonestar
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To: george76

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”

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/18/study_sees_progress_in_filling_big_dig_leaks?mode=PF


4 posted on 12/25/2007 2:33:46 PM PST by LibFreeOrDie (L'Chaim!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; Lonesome in Massachussets; SunkenCiv

5 posted on 12/25/2007 2:34:39 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

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..


6 posted on 12/25/2007 2:40:35 PM PST by river rat (Semper Fi - You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: george76
Yes, it is still leaking.

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.

7 posted on 12/25/2007 2:48:18 PM PST by MIchaelTArchangel
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To: george76

Never will be complete, now the work will be on the after completion phase.


8 posted on 12/25/2007 2:51:15 PM PST by org.whodat (What's the difference between a Democrat and a republican????)
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To: george76
The “big dig” will be studied by future generations on how government waste and union fraud can inflate a project’s cost by nearly 400%...
9 posted on 12/25/2007 2:54:15 PM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: george76

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.


10 posted on 12/25/2007 2:55:03 PM PST by ASOC
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To: george76

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


11 posted on 12/25/2007 3:00:07 PM PST by NRA2BFree ("The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves!")
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To: george76

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!!!!!


12 posted on 12/25/2007 3:04:38 PM PST by nyyankeefan
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To: george76

Another reason not to vote for Mitt Romney.


13 posted on 12/25/2007 3:05:30 PM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: spokeshave

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.


14 posted on 12/25/2007 3:07:04 PM PST by businessprofessor
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To: MIchaelTArchangel

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.


15 posted on 12/25/2007 3:12:17 PM PST by Rastus
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To: 2banana

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.


16 posted on 12/25/2007 3:13:13 PM PST by Rastus
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To: LibFreeOrDie
Downright scary article. Thanks.

I have no plans of going nowhere near this thing. I'll pay the money and get my lobsters shipped in from Maine.

17 posted on 12/25/2007 3:14:17 PM PST by AGreatPer ("The Democrats don't give a rats ass about this country"....Rush Limbaugh, 11/15/07)
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To: river rat

Awwwww who gives a Mitt !..........:o)

< /sarcasm>


18 posted on 12/25/2007 3:18:50 PM PST by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. ©)
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To: george76

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.


19 posted on 12/25/2007 3:21:55 PM PST by johnthebaptistmoore
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To: george76
Image hosted by Photobucket.com yeah, right... relatively speaking it's done that is.

depends on what the meaning of the word done is...

20 posted on 12/25/2007 3:37:01 PM PST by Chode (American Hedonist)
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