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The cost of the Big Dig in Boston was no doubt greatly inflated by graft and corruption. But there are three major things that drove up the cost of the Big Dig massively that people outside the area rarely if ever hear about.

Disclaimer: While I like what the Big Dig did for Boston, as a conservative, I would never approve of the way it was funded. Never. I don't believe in having money taken from people in Montana to pay for highway projects in Boston. But that is the way, with all the political philandering and corruption was and still is done.

First, Boston had a history that bore heavily on the costs as it went along. In the 1950's when the Central Artery was built through the heart of Boston, thousands of people (I think 12,000) and hundreds of buildings were taken against the will of the residents in the North End (Boston's Little Italy). When the big dig was in the design stage, the state vowed (with a codicil in the written process) that nobody who wanted to stay would be forced to leave. So, they didn't use eminent domain, and paid some seriously big bucks to purchase property. One kind of humorous one (for me, at least) is a skinny, four story old tenement right next to The Boston Garden, surrounded by parking lots and ramps on and off the new roads. It looks so bizarrely out of place, but apparently the owner refused to sell regardless of price.

Every time I see that building I think of the movie "Up"!

Second, there were changes in environmental constraints that were not well understood, and at the time the big dig was taking place, they were coming out of the woodwork. The Howard Zakim Bridge spanning the Charles River, and the widest bridge of its kind built to date at a cost of between $100-150 million dollars, had to be redesigned. Why? Apparently the shadow of the bridge on the water was thought to prevent small sardine-like fish called "Alwifes" from migrating up or down the river. They had to do extensive redesign with special slats to allow light to reach the water below. Who knows what other bizarre environmental issues they had to deal with.

Third, huge areas of Boston were built on landfill, soil that had been moved from one area to another. This is one of the reasons they used a "dig and cover" technique as opposed to a tunneling technique. AND, they did this in one area where they actually had to build a large refrigeration unit that froze a huge section of ground in a key area so they wouldn't have to re-route a key commuter rail system and the main Amtrak system. The soil in that area was completely unstable. Crazy, but you can imagine it.

Third, huge areas of Boston were built on landfill, soil that had been moved from one area to another.

The hills in and around Boston were pulled down to create the fill. Tough work in the 19th century.

The growth of Boston:

“It looks so bizarrely out of place, but apparently the owner refused to sell regardless of price.”

I’m surprised it didn’t “burn down,” or have some other kind of “unfortunate accident.”

>The cost of the Big Dig in Boston was no doubt greatly inflated by graft and corruption. But there are three major things that drove up the cost of the Big Dig massively that people outside the area rarely if ever hear about. ur major highway interchanges.

And despite an 8-to-10 lane underground expressway, the most expensive highway in US history, it is far too small.

It's not your imagination. Your Boston commute is getting worse

From https://www.boston.com/cars/news-and-reviews/2015/01/05/can-we-talk-rationally-about-the-big-dig-yet

the truth is that engineers in the late 1980s already knew it was a $12 to $14 billion project. They told everybody who would listen—including the politicians—and those people kept it quiet.’’

With interest, the project could ultimately cost around $24 billion, finally getting paid off in 2038.

Aggregate Industries would later pay a $50 million penalty to the state for its role in providing 5,700 truckloads of substandard concrete.

and ...a $26 million settlement from the largest contractor on the Big Dig and a bolt distribution company,

Though the Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff joint management firm had all criminal charges dropped, they had to pay more than $407 million to resolve the civil and criminal liabilities in connection with project defects.

And Have you blocked out what the city looked like 20 years ago? Peter Vanderwarker’s photos recall Boston before the Big Dig. [hype]