Boston's Big Dig Needs a Big Time Out

First and foremost, I want to send my thoughts and condolenses to Angel Del Valle after the tragic death of his wife, Melina Del Valle last Monday night.  Angel and his wife were driving to Boston's Logan Airport to pick up relatives when four - 5,000 pound ceiling tiles fell on their car.   Their car was in the connector tunnel that leads to the Ted Williams tunnel that connects Boston with Logan Airport.  Both tunnels are part of an over-budget and massively delayed project referred to as the "Big Dig."

I'm in Boston today.  I arrived this morning and although the connector tunnel is now a crime scene and closed indefinitely, I frequently glanced at the gigantic concrete ceiling tile that separate the top of the Ted Williams Tunnel from the bottom of Boston Harbor.  When traffic slowed to a crawl and then to a stop when I was about a third of the way into the tunnel, I admit to anxiously holding my breath.

One of the columnists for one of the Boston newspapers described the Big Dig as the "Perfect Project."   The "Perfect Storm,"  was produced by the convergence of three smaller storms and the Big Dig became the "Perfect Project" by the convergence of Big Politics, Big Business, Big Labor, and Big Media.  All of this could only happen in The Peoples' Republic of Massachusetts.  They need a time out.  Tourists should stay away until Boston's politicians put personal safety ahead of personal greed.

When I returned to Logan this afternoon, I added two hours to my travel time, because I took the old and trustworthy Callahan Tunnel.  From the amount of congestion, I wasn't the only person who was anxious to avoid the Ted Williams Tunnel.

I have to return to Boston next week.  I'm considering flying into Providence and driving an extra 75 minutes.  Providence is in a different State and has no tunnels associated with its airport.

Comments

[you jerk]

The Worst of Boston

[Scott Ahlsmith CTC]

The previous post contains a link to a forum (message board) that contains profanity. That doesn't bother me, but I practice full-disclosure.

Also, I haven't quite wrapped my head around the site, but in the interest of social networking, I'm leaving the link

[Enggirl1]

here's an interesting story i found online - Design News Magazine has a story beggin the question as to whether or not Boston's Big Dig Central Artery Tunnel Project was on one of engineering's biggest failures. What's most interesting is the number of engineers, contractors, etc... who under the guise of anonyity are talking about it daily on blogs and forums popping up all over the internet.

Here's the URL: http://www.designnews.com/article/CA6357443.html

[Juno888]

here's an interesting story i found online - Design News Magazine has a story beggin the question as to whether or not Boston's Big Dig Central Artery Tunnel Project was on one of engineering's biggest failures.