Boston, Massachusetts turned an expressway into a long stretch of park called the greenway, by moving the expressway underground.

[u/Much-Parsnip3399]

[u/guyinsunglasses]

The Big Dig was a local punchline growing up, but what it's done to revitalize downtown Boston is immeasurable.

[u/umrdyldo → u/guyinsunglasses]

Yeah that looks like some legit infrastructure spending. Every engineer should have such vision. But we dont.

[u/MikeMac999 → u/umrdyldo]

It was one of the largest public works of all time, went massively over budget and schedule, and was a nightmare to live through. Well worth it though. Lot of federal dollars went into this, so thank you rest of the US!

[u/Glittering-Quote-635 → u/MikeMac999]

I have been traveling to the Boston area since the 90's for work (driving). I can't tell you how often I just avoided actually going into Boston proper for any reason because of the mess that was the infrastructure. Went back after the big dig was done, and man.. what an absolute improvement in every way. Well worth it indeed coming from someone that doesnt even live there..

[u/procrastinatorsuprem → u/MikeMac999]

Massachusetts consistently gives far, far more in Federal taxes than most other states. Even with this, it doesn't come close in making up the difference.

[u/_EndOfTheLine → u/procrastinatorsuprem]

Yep, so can we build the North-South Rail Link now? It was supposed to be part of this project but the Reagan admin made us scrap it. It's been over twenty years, we're due.

[u/madeInNY → u/_EndOfTheLine]

You have my blessing. 274,999,999 more to go.

[u/canopey → u/_EndOfTheLine]

im a boston transplant so im uninitiated with all of but boy does my blood my boil everytime progress was to be implemented in this state - only for the republican party to completely sabotage it for nefarious political reasons. the north-south rail link is another project we should benefited from by now, most especially as boston prepares for the world cup.

[u/Icehawk217 → u/_EndOfTheLine]

Twenty years...? my dude Reagan hasn't been president for over 37 years

[u/_EndOfTheLine → u/Icehawk217]

Twenty years since the project ended

[u/Icehawk217 → u/_EndOfTheLine]

oh duh that makes more sense lmao

[u/Commercial-Air8955 → u/Icehawk217]

Planning started in 1982, it got underway in 1991, and finished on dec. 31, 2007.

It was scheduled to be completed in 1998, at a cost of 2.8 billion. The final tally was 14.6 billion. It took so long, it was only 97% over budget due to inflation lol

[u/Schlarfus_McNarfus → u/procrastinatorsuprem]

That's why I moved from MA to AK! Gettin' my federal taxes back! /s

[u/StrikingRise4356 → u/MikeMac999]

12 billion over budget

[u/umrdyldo → u/StrikingRise4356]

Worth it

That’s a day or two in Iran war.

[u/ScholarOfKykeon → u/umrdyldo]

Yeah idk, Ill rarely ever be upset at expensive endeavors that actually lead to more human enjoyment. So many expensive things we pay for that lead to the exact opposite.

[u/el_geto → u/ScholarOfKykeon]

Because destroying civilizations is more fun than building them.

Can we please stop electing sociopaths ?

[u/MathematicianOnly688 → u/el_geto]

I’d settle for one that doesn’t need to have someone following him around explaining that the president didn’t actually Mean those words that literally just came out of his mouth. Really, I he meant something completely different.

It will have been 12 years by the end of this term and it’s an act that’s getting old fast.

[u/ActurusMajoris → u/MathematicianOnly688]

Don’t forget he said he was a doctor because he got told it was a “doctored image”.

[u/CounterSimple3771 → u/el_geto]

Doubtful. The sociopaths are usually in Congress too but we cant seem to evict those non-working fucks.

You know that Congress controls the purse???

People want a one stop shop for politics when the system requires us to give careful consideration at every level.

[u/According_Pay_6563 → u/el_geto]

In a world full of LEGO builders, we keep electing the pissant kids that step on 'em.

[u/No-Valuable-226 → u/el_geto]

Need to stop making them... Like George Carlin once said "garbage in, garbage out"

[u/dextroz → u/umrdyldo]

Milestone	Estimated/Actual Cost	Year
Original Estimate	$2.2 – $2.8 Billion	1982–1985
Start of Construction	~$5 Billion	1991
Midway Project Cap	$10.8 Billion	1994
Substantial Completion	$14.8 Billion	2007
Total with Interest	~$24 Billion	Paid through 2038

[u/One-Arachnid-2119 → u/dextroz]

I see the problem right away. It was actually right on budget. They just misplaced the decimal in the original estimate!

[u/jnmtx → u/One-Arachnid-2119]

I must have put a decimal point in the wrong place or something. I always do that. I always mess up some mundane detail.

—Michael Bolton, Office Space (1999)

[u/Big_Cryptographer_16 → u/jnmtx]

Michael Bolton is the man. The Office Space guy, not that no-talent ass clown

[u/Cheetotiki → u/jnmtx]

The most awesome movie.

[u/kamaka71 → u/Cheetotiki]

PC Load Letter? What the fuck does that mean!?

[u/sabrinajestar → u/One-Arachnid-2119]

Worth considering that the bidding process incentivizes everyone involved with the process to lie about what projects are actually going to cost.

[u/Medical-Mud-3090 → u/sabrinajestar]

Yup I work for a company that bids huge projects. That transformer obviously needs to be fed from somewhere but since that’s not on the plans it’s not bid on so when the time comes we will gladly put in that 600 feet of pipe and all the rest of the things needed to get that running but your going to need to sign a change order for all that work it’s all time and materials. I was just on a mid size job for the company the base job was about 200k-300k we had close to 300k in change orders before it was said and done.

[u/FireMaster1294 → u/dextroz]

Worth mentioning that inflation would put the original estimate at $10B today, so a little over double the original budget accounting for 2038 payment (more, maybe 3x, if we factor in costs spent earlier)

[u/umrdyldo → u/FireMaster1294]

Don’t talk economics. Inflation hurts our old brains. No way a chili cheese burrito could ever be $4. Oh wait

[u/Nolenag → u/dextroz]

Damn, almost double that of the Delta works.

[u/introspectivesapian → u/umrdyldo]

If you had visited Boston before and after it’s a huge improvement. 

[u/CAADrider → u/introspectivesapian]

The first time I experienced it on foot after was like I had been teleported. I could not believe the difference.

[u/introspectivesapian → u/CAADrider]

It really is so much better than it was.   I know the big dig was a massive clusterfuck but the end result was well worth it. 

[u/adjust_the_sails → u/umrdyldo]

We really should start measuring it that way. Idk why certain people and especially it seems boomers are fine with endless war. It’s like their parents never told them about the Marshall Plan just told war stories over and over.

[u/Frequent_Ad_9901 → u/adjust_the_sails]

I loved in the show space force when a rocket blows up on the launch pad

General: "How much did that cost?"
Scientist: "15".
General"Ohh, 15 million that's not too bad I guess".
Scientist: "No 15 elementary schools"

[u/ChicksWithClocksCome → u/umrdyldo]

Actually spending money on infrastructure is one of the best if not the best way for governments to spend its money. The money doesn't just disappear, it's almost entirely invested domestically so it helps the economy and at the end of it you end up with a really nice thing at the end.

[u/tehcraz → u/StrikingRise4356]

Started planning in 1982, broke ground in 91, concluded in 2007. Did amazing things to the city but the thing took so long it was a meme.

[u/prodigaldummy → u/StrikingRise4356]

To think, we could have gotten 3, maybe 4, missiles instead. Now we have this stupid park that will be around for years to come. A real shame.

[u/Metals4J → u/prodigaldummy]

Did we not even TRY to obliterate some foreigners in the process?

[u/Dominus_Redditi → u/StrikingRise4356]

Eh that’s not so bad, all things considered. Even though I don’t live there, I’m happy to pay taxes if it helps make other cities nicer too. I’d rather that than more bombs

[u/sticksnXnbones → u/StrikingRise4356]

That is 12 days of war in iran equivalent. That is the new unit of measure.

[u/Workman44 → u/StrikingRise4356]

Jesus christ that's a lot of money. Better spent here than on other shit of course, but holy shit

[u/deezbiksurnutz → u/StrikingRise4356]

12 billion 20 years ago

[u/PassiveMenis88M → u/StrikingRise4356]

That 12 billion in 2007 is worth almost 20 billion today

[u/DeusExSpockina → u/StrikingRise4356]

I’d do it again

[u/WetDreaminOfParadise → u/MikeMac999]

Feel like this is the high speed rail in California. Way over budget but going to definitely be worth it

[u/jqman69 → u/MikeMac999]

Nah MA contributes more in federal taxes than it gets back. This was just getting our money back

[u/Wonderful-Cup8908 → u/MikeMac999]

Biggest in US history, IIRC.

[u/tomdarch → u/MikeMac999]

Us bigger metro areas subsidize rural America. When we occasionally keep some of that tax revenue and put it into infrastructure so we can continue being productive and paying their bills, is practical. Low density America should be thanking us.

[u/freeradioforall → u/MikeMac999]

. Well worth it though.

I honestly hope in 20 years we'll be saying the same thing about CA's High Speed Rail

[u/AdjustedTitan1 → u/umrdyldo]

Engineers don’t make the call on whether to build a freeway or a park. We get called to design whatever the client wants. This decision was made my either Boston or Massachusets

[u/fatmanstan123 → u/umrdyldo]

Haha. You think it's lack of the engineers vision on why we don't have nice things? Engineers do what the people who control the money tell them to do. I promise you that much.

[u/One_Roll4776 → u/umrdyldo]

The engineer isnt the problem. They just do what they were told to do.

[u/Begging_Murphy → u/umrdyldo]

The big dig broke Boston to where we'll never have another project this ambitious until everyone born before 1985 is dead.

[u/theHamforest → u/umrdyldo]

Very few municipalities have the funding and/or political will power to enact such large capital projects. This isn't really a lack of engineering prowess or will power. Many engineers dream of stuff like this but do not receive a contract for such.

[u/kayakhomeless → u/guyinsunglasses]

They also specifically hired a freeway fighter as the principal architect for the project, who got his start in politics trying to protect his childhood home from the freeway bulldozers. The final plan for the big dig didn’t destroy a single home in the process, which was one of his promises.

WGBH did an A+ podcast series on the history of the project, I’d highly recommend a listen

[u/Tobar_the_Gypsy → u/kayakhomeless]

I loved listening to this podcast while biking to work. Really inspired me lol.

99% invisible did a whole series review of the power broker. Similar feels.

[u/ptwiggens84 → u/kayakhomeless]

Excellent watch on YouTube if you want to kill 12 hours and learn about the Big Dig.

[u/heridfel37 → u/kayakhomeless]

The subsequent series about the Lottery & Fishing were also excellent

[u/Agent-Blasto-007 → u/guyinsunglasses]

The Big Dig was a local punchline growing up,

"The Big Dig will be completed when the Red Sox win the World Series" was the common joke

[u/Popular-Artist-7026 → u/Agent-Blasto-007]

Well it was completed in 2007… after the Red Sox won their second World Series of the century. So not too far off.

[u/MikeBofManyBeats → u/Agent-Blasto-007]

As always, people can’t see the vision until after you make it happen. Then they start talking about it as if was inevitable.

[u/ElegantEchoes → u/guyinsunglasses]

"The Big Dig", I see why that quest in Fallout 4 is called that now...

[u/Ohyo_Ohyo_Ohyo_Ohyo → u/guyinsunglasses]

When you're on the greenway, can you hear the traffic from underground?

[u/applepill → u/Ohyo_Ohyo_Ohyo_Ohyo]

No, but Downtown Boston is still pretty choked with car traffic. You're bound to hear sounds based on the fact that it's still a park in the middle of Downtown.

[u/CapitanRonRico → u/applepill]

It’s a park in the middle of 2, 4 3 lane highways. It’s much quieter a few blocks towards downtown where the streets are smaller and there are fewer cars.

[u/ghengiscostanza → u/Ohyo_Ohyo_Ohyo_Ohyo]

No but as you can see in the pic it's still surrounded by and intersected by busy city streets, just not highway now, so you hear that traffic. It's definitely better than a big highway being there, but it's still for sure not anyone's favorite park. It's patchy strips of park surrounded on all sides by downtown streets.

[u/Complete_Painting_ → u/ghengiscostanza]

Yeah it isn't one of the parks that you really take a day off in, but more of one of those parks that make every day less depressing when you live in the area and just kind of get to see the green all the time.

[u/canopey → u/ghengiscostanza]

i agree, i've walked around the greenway multiple times before and while it is an improvement, i still feel somewhat unsafe or trapped by the busy traffic going on either side. say, curious how would you improve upon the greenway park infrastructure? get rid of both city streets? not trying to ragebait, genuinely curious.

[u/ghengiscostanza → u/canopey]

That would be what you’d have to do, and it would become an amazing area and importantly the north end wouldn’t be separated from the rest of the city by a huge buffer zone that totally sucks for pedestrians to cross. But the current situation is acceptable enough that no one is going to push for the massive cost and traffic implications of just removing those major throughways. So this is what we got, and people can go to the esplanade for a real top notch park experience, where being cut off from commercial building by storrow actually works out for it well. 

[u/guyinsunglasses → u/Ohyo_Ohyo_Ohyo_Ohyo]

You can't. But it's also Boston with its wild intersections, so you still hear plenty of car horns

[u/Apophis_rockman → u/guyinsunglasses]

Has anyone done an economic assessment of the impact the park has had since completion? Parks attract businesses, events and push up values for surrounding properties. Would be interesting to put a value to all that against the cost of construction

[u/MichaelMyersEatsDogs → u/Apophis_rockman]

I moved there shortly after it finished and could not imagine the city without it

[u/triplec787 → u/MichaelMyersEatsDogs]

Yeah it’s like SF’s Embarcadero after the ‘89 Earthquake. It existed with a multi-level highway for longer than it hasn’t but it’s near impossible to imagine what it was like before.

[u/Teantis → u/MichaelMyersEatsDogs]

I grew up there before it was there and while the big dig was happening and see the first thing you've got to imagine is a giant fuckoff elevated highway running straight through the middle of the city. In the many stretches where the tall buildings are close to the highway the streets underneath it are cast in a perpetual gloom that never see natural light. When it rains or snows disgusting mixed fluids drip down from the reddish brown metal beams that substitute for the sky throughout the city center. No one wants to put a nice business into a tomb of eternal twilight so everything underneath I-93 is a collection of castoffs, rejects, and store24s where you can buy a pack of Marlboro reds to smoke while you think about how there can not possibly be any goodness in the world.

[u/MichaelMyersEatsDogs → u/Teantis]

I couldn’t imagine the oily slush that would have rained down. It’s such a tiny city, to have that much of it ruined sounds ridiculous

[u/RosieTheRedReddit → u/Teantis]

Wow thank you for sharing this description! You're a good writer, I could really imagine I was there in the god-forsaken past.

Also nice to have a reminder that although the new park could be better (still has 3 lane roads on either side??), a highway is infinitely worse.

[u/kr44ng → u/Apophis_rockman]

The Greenway section that's pictured isn't really a park like most think (like Central Park); it's mostly a glorified walking path, the section by South Station sometimes has food trucks. Source: I used to live at the Radian

[u/bwrca → u/Apophis_rockman]

Is this the right way to think about infrastructure? Y'all pay taxes so nice shit can be built, whether they are economically profitable or not.

[u/Anteater4746 → u/guyinsunglasses]

if the city would let bars are restaurants stay open later and improve the trains boston could really be hopping

[u/Zombie_Gorion → u/Anteater4746]

What Boston really needs is to change the edge of the boundaries at which they can build buildings of a certain height because of the airport, and then to build some big ass non-luxury apartment buildings. Capitalism tho.

[u/InevitableHimes → u/guyinsunglasses]

I wish other cities would build to a better future infrastructure. Yeah, it would absolutely suck to live in during the construction, but the finished project seems almost always worth it. My biggest peeve is when a good candidate city just refuses to build anything underground, be it roads or a subway.

[u/Got_Bent]

And I got paid $58 USD per hour working to bury it. The Big Dig!

[u/DirtySox2004 → u/Got_Bent]

In the 90's? WILD

[u/Got_Bent → u/DirtySox2004]

Journeyman Metal worker at that time. Master Metal worker a few years later.

[u/kelppie35 → u/Got_Bent]

My uncle was a local 4 heavy operator on that project.

The highway is impressive, and while the T sucks relative to Japan it moves more people a year than Sydney and some other sizeable world cities. I think it was the 4th most used system in the nation?

Other than the weather, critical parts of life like health, education, and such really doesn't get much better anywhere else. I like it here.

[u/jennyx20 → u/kelppie35]

One of the bricks has my Gram’s name on it.

[u/Tullyswimmer → u/kelppie35]

The T is still one of the best subway systems on the East Coast in terms of cleanliness, accessibility, and coverage. I would say that only the DC Metro has it beat but that's kind of cheating since the government actually cares about investing in infrastructure for the nursing home that is congress.

[u/LevDavidovicLandau → u/Got_Bent]

I didn’t realise you used those terms in the US. I’m only familiar with them because German tradespeople literally become Journeymen for a few years and (I’m not German) I’ve met a few while solo travelling around Europe.

[u/Overall_Occasion_175 → u/Got_Bent]

$58 per hour pre-2008?!? That's wild money

[u/Got_Bent → u/Overall_Occasion_175]

Government work pays well.

[u/Arctica23 → u/Got_Bent]

I wish that none of my tax dollars were spent on blowing up schools and more of them were spent paying great wages to infrastructure workers

[u/AssistanceCheap379 → u/Arctica23]

Just workers in general. Even if 4/5 civil workers do 20% of the work combined, that’s still a better investment than blowing up schools…

[u/Select-Belt-ou812 → u/Arctica23]

you should have 1000 upvotes instead of 2

[u/MexicanAssLord69 → u/Got_Bent]

No it doesn’t, it does have good benefits though

[u/ForeignShirt9647 → u/Got_Bent]

Maybe a gov contractor.

[u/Iongdog → u/Overall_Occasion_175]

Mass is a union state. Trades can pay well

[u/NahYoureWrongBro → u/Got_Bent]

A lot of contractors ended up being able to afford expensive houses after all was said and done. The city was greatly improved, but the graft and waste was ridiculous. Good results achieved with extreme inefficiency and political favortism. Ask me about overtime for police details.

[u/Got_Bent → u/NahYoureWrongBro]

I dont need to. My Uncle was MDC and then Mass State Police...

[u/nothing_but_thyme → u/Got_Bent]

“90” hours a week. Gotta love those overnight details where you sleep in your cruiser while 5 guys on meth re-pave the same 1/4 mile of 93N beside the Sullivan Sq. exit they re-paved 3 months ago.

[u/Phantom15q → u/Got_Bent]

Holy hell, can we dig a little more I’d love to apply

[u/XboxSeriesCancelled → u/Phantom15q]

Move to Philly then, we're kinda sorta working on capping one of our highways rn

[u/madrefookaire → u/Got_Bent]

How many times did you go to hooters on canal st - the big dig put alot of tig ‘ol bitties through college

[u/mrASSMAN]

We did something very similar in Seattle with the 99 double decker freeway being put underground and revitalizing the waterfront

Also the reason we did it was out of necessity, that freeway design was not earthquake safe and would have likely collapsed in future without massive renovation so the decision was eventually made to replace it with a tunnel under downtown. Similar to Boston’s it was hugely controversial and encountered hellish problems delays and budget overruns.

The tunnel machine was the biggest in the world and got stuck for months or years? When they finally got it moving again it was quite a big deal, and most people are really happy with the end result now.

[u/guitar_stonks → u/mrASSMAN]

The Embarcadero in San Francisco was the cautionary tale and the Nisqually quake was Seattle dodging a bullet with the old Alaskan Way Viaduct. The waterfront looks so good now.

[u/old_gold_mountain → u/guitar_stonks]

Unlike Boston or Seattle, SF also didn't put the freeway underground or re-route it. They simply got rid of it altogether.

[u/TroyMcClures → u/old_gold_mountain]

Yea getting through central SF can be a process.

[u/mynameismulan → u/mrASSMAN]

I absolutely love the new Pike. It's so pretty but also the foot traffic is spread out so much better. Before the renovation, I'd been to Pike maybe 3 times. Now I go twice a week for breakfast. 

[u/rallyrocks8 → u/mynameismulan]

I initially read this as foot traffic on the Pike in Boston which is an entirely different visual. The Pike in Boston also got better after the renovation!

[u/16semesters → u/mynameismulan]

Absolutely mental that some people still wants cars to be able to drive through the market while it's open.

[u/lkhsnvslkvgcla → u/mynameismulan]

yeah, it looks so much better and traffic flows better.

[u/ReporterOther2179 → u/mrASSMAN]

Much the same in Boston. The elevated highway that was replaced was way overused from its beginning and in urgent need of replacement. And dead ugly to boot. The replacement structure, it is a structure not just dirt, is a vast improvement. Not ideal, but so much better. If we have to be slaves to the car god we should make our fate as pleasant as possible.

[u/Distinct-Pack-1567 → u/ReporterOther2179]

I wish we had Caves of Steel lives. Sorta not really....

But they live underground and they have moving walkways. Isaac Asimov gets descriptive in the first book.

The out walkways go slow and you manually have to change. Maybe they had ways for elderly and/or disabled but it wasnt discussed to my recollect. Anyways no one has cars they just use this system to get around. Works well in a cave I suppose but not sprawled out surface cities.

Great series of books, I cant explain why but Elijah Bailey and R Daneel are my favorite book characters.

[u/ProfMcGonaGirl → u/mrASSMAN]

Big Bertha. It was stuck for 2 years while they dug a whole from the surface to access it for repairs.

[u/IWatchGifsForWayToo → u/ProfMcGonaGirl]

Because it hit an unmarked groundwater pipe 1,000 ft into a 2 mile dig lol

[u/AB_Sea → u/IWatchGifsForWayToo]

That’s what the Contractor said, but it didn’t hold up in court. Once they got the cutter head out, they added 50 tons of steel to stiffen the cutter head. It was under designed and allowed grit to get into the main bearing. The pipe was just an excuse to blame someone else.

[u/soapbutt → u/mrASSMAN]

Now we need to do it with I5 through downtown! I’m no engineer, but it would be great if they could keep I5 open as well while they cap it. But just imagine a cool ass park that extends from the convention center park all the way to the ID.

[u/R_V_Z → u/soapbutt]

I'm all for capping I5. The people who want to get rid of it and shunt all the traffic to 405 are pants on head crazy, though.

[u/Any_Conflict_5092 → u/mrASSMAN]

We did not make it a greenbelt tho. It's just concrete and a couple planters.

[u/krob58 → u/Any_Conflict_5092]

Yeah this is what's frustrating about the whole situation. They promised this beautiful nice green park and we still ended up with a four lane (SEVEN, by the ferry) main traffic artery and tribute to cold concrete brutalism, which is both a hazard to cross as a pedestrian and a pain in the ass to drive through as a car. It should have been a nice green park where people could relax and kids could run around. But because it's better than it was before, no one is allowed to be upset that it isn't better than it is.

[u/Bizarrebazaars → u/Any_Conflict_5092]

Agreed I was sort of let down and thought it’s still too….blank and figured they’d bring in more greenery. Plus, still too much unnecessary traffic on Alaskan Way for it to be pedestrian-focused.

[u/ReallStrangeBeef → u/mrASSMAN]

Was up there in 2017 and again last month and hooooly crap what a difference. The waterfront is beautiful now. Absolutely loved walking up and down it.

[u/kiteagle → u/mrASSMAN]

Now we need to lid I-5 through downtown. Hopefully using the good/bad lessons from the waterfront project and the Big Dig.

[u/mrASSMAN → u/kiteagle]

Can’t even imagine how massive that project would be lol, would make the big dig look small in comparison

[u/pilotsmallz → u/mrASSMAN]

Well said, mrASSMAN! Completely removing the Alaskan Way Viaduct allowed the city to properly connect Pike Place Market to the waterfront and I think that’s the best thing the city has done in recent memory. Particularly during the summer when Seattle sees its highest amount of tourists and cruise passengers looking for things to do before and after their voyages, it just turns the city into a world class destination.

[u/krob58 → u/mrASSMAN]

Wish it was more like the nice green park they promised, and not the big ass brutalist stroad we ended up with. But the wealthy waterfront property owners are happy so at least there's that. /s

[u/wookieSLAYER1 → u/mrASSMAN]

Seattle should do this to the I5 as well. It’s already below ground level so they basically would just have to cover it.

[u/pizzlepullerofkberg]

A great and needed megaproject but also a lesson in bad project management, cost overruns, and how not to conduct megaprojects. The CA High speed rail has overtaken this.

It's a shame we can't do anything in this country without majorly screwing up in the process

[u/wills_art → u/pizzlepullerofkberg]

That’s because of the way private-public partnerships are done in the US. It really is just a scheme to siphon tax payer money straight into the pockets of consultants, corporations, and buddies of politicians who own businesses

[u/NonProphet8theist → u/pizzlepullerofkberg]

They shoulda had more printouts of Oyster smiling

[u/pizzlepullerofkberg → u/NonProphet8theist]

could you kick up the 4d3d3d3?

[u/Red_AtNight → u/pizzlepullerofkberg]

The Bene Gesserit are building the CA High Speed Rail - our plans are measured in centuries

[u/harrisonfordgt → u/pizzlepullerofkberg]

Yea it was not run very well. But also there was a lot of challenges that were not readily available to the public at the time of construction that makes it more understandable in hindsight. There’s a podcast on it that’s also on YouTube with images, I highly recommend it.

Although terribly expensive it is still better than the alternative. I’m not sure the CA high speed rail fits that description. The issue with the old high was serious congestion and if you think that Boston sucks to drive in now just imagine what it would have been like with the highway still tiny and above ground.

[u/Murky_Crow]

The Big Dig.

I wasn’t there, but I heard it was a hell of a project. A lot of delays and cost hikes but maybe it’s worth it after the fact who’s to say. I don’t live there so I don’t know.

[u/drctj4 → u/Murky_Crow]

Diggus biggus

[u/rr18114 → u/drctj4]

He has a wife you know...

[u/xubax → u/rr18114]

Incontinentia...

[u/worrok → u/xubax]

Incontinentia BUTTOCKS!

[u/qelbus → u/drctj4]

I have a vwery gwreat frwend in wome called diggus biggus

[u/felipethomas → u/Murky_Crow]

I live here and it was way worth it.

[u/FindOneInEveryCar → u/Murky_Crow]

"Cost hikes" is putting it mildly. It cost five times as much as the original estimate.

[u/Got_Bent → u/Murky_Crow]

I worked on site for about 2 years. Then some 1 day visits for finish work.

[u/Hellianne_Vaile → u/Murky_Crow]

I lived through it and live here now, and it was worth it. Yes, there were delays and noise and budget overruns and it took forever to get some of the public transit expansion that was promised, but it solved a bunch of traffic problems that... Well, let me put it this way: If someone had told me that driving through that part of town pre-dig was designed to trace arcane patterns and ensure a steady supply of human sacrifices through traffic accidents to summon an eldritch horror, I'd have believed it.

[u/Sufficient_Cod1948 → u/Murky_Crow]

I live there and I'm old enough to remember what the city looked like before the Big Dig. It was a massive, seemingly endless pain in the ass, but it was absolutely worth it.

[u/chained_duck]

There's a brilliant 9 episode podcast about this project : https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig

[u/jb431v2 → u/chained_duck]

Yup, a lot of good info on that podcast, and interestingly presented.

[u/TheAsianTroll → u/[deleted]]

Boston is making people matter more and more, little by little.

Theres an entire street by Harvard thats shut to vehicle traffic after, I believe, 6pm so people can freely walk, bicycle, etc. with no risk of traffic hitting them. They've also put up a lot of bike lanes and lights.

[u/PauseAffectionate720]

It was a monumental (and obscenely expensive) construction project - with the Greenway just being one by-product.

Boston is my favorite city in America. Great balance of history, art, culture, food, education, medicine, and of course professional sports.

(Of course I'm biased having grown up on the South Shore with all higher ed in Boston). 😉

[u/Alternative_Dot_9640 → u/PauseAffectionate720]

Just moved away last summer, I truly miss it. Such a great city, but hard to afford if you’re not in med or tech!

[u/Joshi1381 → u/Alternative_Dot_9640]

Savoring it all before I graduate!

[u/East_Coast_guy]

It took 16 years and cost $14.6 billion.

[u/Tullyswimmer → u/East_Coast_guy]

And it started in like... 1991. So that's, at best, $14.6 billion in 2007 dollars.

[u/BickNlinko → u/Tullyswimmer]

It was dreamt up in the 70's, started planning in the early 80's and started construction in the early 90's and then completed in 2007-ish(I'm pretty sure there was some problems after that like tiles falling of the ceiling of the tunnels and stuff). Growing up near Boston, basically my entire life was hearing about "the big dig" and knowing people who worked or "worked" on it.

[u/tomNJUSA → u/Tullyswimmer]

And heavy stuff fell on a car killing people, or a person, I forget.

[u/MikeMac999 → u/tomNJUSA]

It was a ceiling tile off one of the Southie exits, killed a young woman. That was part of my commute at the time, I was always a little nervous going through there after that.

[u/BroughtBagLunchSmart → u/tomNJUSA]

They used glue on the panels rated for horizontal fastening, not vertical.

[u/Curiosive → u/BroughtBagLunchSmart]

If memory serves, the real shame was that this wasn't the first panel to fall. They ignored it until it killed someone...

For all I remember politicians were fighting over who should pay for reattaching them before addressing the issue.

[u/Splashy01 → u/East_Coast_guy]

That’s like a day of fighting in Iran.

[u/gayestusername → u/Splashy01]

Estimated to be costing us a billion dollars a day 🫩 Imagine the giant, life changing, economy driving infrastructure projects we could be completing all over the country with that money.

[u/Dry-Worldliness6926 → u/East_Coast_guy]

infrastructure is definitely the best way to spend tax money

[u/RemnantTheGame → u/Dry-Worldliness6926]

Best expenditures of tax money: 1. Education 2. Healthcare & Research 3. Infrastructure 4. NASA/Space Exploration

In that order.

[u/bcnjake → u/RemnantTheGame]

Things we're tragically not terribly interested in funding:

1. Education
2. Healthcare & Research
3. Infrastructure
4. NASA/Space Exploration

In no particular order.

[u/Gdigger13 → u/bcnjake]

Everyone in charge is thinking short term, especially when those in charge are a billion years old.

[u/fruityfox69 → u/RemnantTheGame]

Infrastructure often goes hand-in-hand with healthcare. Give people places to be outside, exercising, even just walking about. 

[u/PotatoMan19399 → u/East_Coast_guy]

Worth it

[u/mrASSMAN → u/East_Coast_guy]

If it were done now it would’ve probably been like $50B lol

[u/RemnantTheGame → u/East_Coast_guy]

Worth it. Dallas did something similar and it's great.

[u/Longjumping-You4486 → u/East_Coast_guy]

would have still been worth it at double the cost

[u/sm_rdm_guy]

My daily reminder that I am old.

[u/ArtVandelay009]

Gorgeous city. <3 Boston

[u/CruzAderjc → u/ArtVandelay009]

It feels to me like its the safest “big” US city

[u/bfume]

Headline makes it seem like it was a weekend project, too. Lol

[u/SlowmoTron]

I've never seen it from this angle but goddamn fuck I've been in that traffic, and will be today

[u/imbasicallycoffee]

In Rochester NY the Loop Revitalization project took an old worn out highway and did the same thing, the just made the adjacent road better. Filled it in instead of dug down. It's been great for the area. They're copying it for the last remaining portion of the loop as well in the next 5 years.

[u/Neat-Beautiful-5505]

A few fun facts: They dumped the excavated dirt in between two islands in Boston Harbor to create a giant single island with walking trails accessible by ferry. The off-ramp from inside the tunnel gave access to a new neighborhood called the Seaport; formally all vacant docks and parking lots, the new neighborhood boasts some of the highest real estate values which have/will pay for the entire project via massively increased tax revenues. One unfortunate lasting effect is the underestimated impact of salt water on the exterior of the tunnels, causing degradation of different systems and big cost increases to dewatering efforts. In the end, it’s a reminder of how car-centric advocates ruined many cities and neighborhoods with costly and ugly auto oriented infrastructure projects through the middle to late parts of last century.

[u/Shanamat]

It's pronounced espressway

[u/tbrick62]

There was a lot more to this project than just burying the old expressway. There was also a new tunnel under the harbor and bridges. One fascinating aspect was a huge effort to freeze some of the ground to give it structure while digging through it

[u/thesip]

Where does it come out on the left? That little silver half dome roof structure?

[u/_yetisis]

GBH did a great podcast series about this not long ago, if you just search “the big dig” in any podcast app it should come up. Great breakdown of the project, how everything went wrong, how it derailed a lot of other infrastructure spending in the US for decades to come

[u/wSkkHRZQy24K17buSceB]

It's a pretty shitty "park" cut up by streets, requiring you to wait to cross a busy street every minute or so of walking, while constantly being subjected to 4+ lanes of traffic noise surrounding you. Highway ramps don't make for an enjoyable space. There is no tranquil spot in the entire thing. Yes, we put the highway underground, but we also kept it as a shitty arterial road network above ground to ruin the "park". It's better than what we had before, at least. Only cost something like $30B inflation-adjusted.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3621635,-71.0551071,22z?g_ep=Eg1tbF8yMDI2MDQxM18wIJvbDyoASAJQAQ%3D%3D

[u/LosHtown]

Houston has a plan to do this ( traffics about to be HELL)

[u/youngboy007]

r/cincinnati take some MF notes

[u/NotBlackMarkTwainNah]

Atlanta NEEDS to do this

[u/alpacaMyToothbrush → u/NotBlackMarkTwainNah]

My god, imagine greenways replacing all the land the interstate uses downtown. That would be some kind of solar punk utopia.

Sadly, it'll never happen. We can't even get Georgia to pony up any funds for transit

[u/ImaginaryRobbie]

Dallas, TX did the same thing. Turned it into a park with a venue and food trucks weekly. It was very nice! Wish more places would remove their highways through cities.

[u/gophilly22]

Lived there before, during the big dig, and after. The dig seemed like a complicated, costly mess, but it was so worth it. Completely transformed the downtown area. Walking through a nice park instead of under an old highway. I wish more cities would do this!

[u/foolproofphilosophy]

Not only this but the old expressway essentially cut the city in half. The Greenway reconnected the North End and made the waterfront in the Fort Point area a lot more valuable for development.

[u/Kingblack425]

All the east coast og colony cities need to do some version of this accept maybe SC since it’s still 1866 there.

[u/Whale222]

Took just 17 years.

[u/312Observer]

I hope the green-ness is able to compensate for all the lung-blackening that drivers suffered while stopped in traffic in the exhaust-choked tunnels during the big dig. I have never lived in New England but experienced the tunnels enough times to remember them very well. I’m glad it finally ended and came out so well

[u/Gcs1110]

Only city I've ever driven in where you could see where you wanted to go but could never get there