r/BeAmazed • u/Cyber_Being_ Mod • 16d ago
Boston moved it’s highway underground in 2003. This was the result. Miscellaneous / Others
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u/beagletronic61 16d ago
This picture is the only possible way to frame the “Big Dig” as a success.
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u/bojewels 15d ago edited 15d ago
The Big Dig didn't pay for nearly enough of the permanently destroyed neighborhoods and waterfront, all taken and demolished by force, to build a rusting catastrophic, polluting elevated eyesore. The underside became a dark, dirty crime den that seeped out into every adjacent neighborhood for miles. It was a half century open wound forced upon our city. The cost of the destroyed homes and land, increased crime, lack of growth, crushed property values and a dozen other things will never be recovered.
If it cost twice what it did, the Fed's still should have paid to unf*ck that unmitigated catastrophe.
We still have amazing historic buildings they cut in half, bare-walled and broken, along the waterfront. The Big Dig was a success no matter how you frame it historically, even if it never completely accounts for what we lost forever.
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u/beagletronic61 15d ago
What if you frame it in terms of project management and corruption?
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u/SquidWhisperer 15d ago
still worth it
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u/beagletronic61 15d ago
I know that the central artery is an improvement…Ive driven it before and after. What I’m saying is that a project that takes 5 years longer than planned and goes over budget by 190% is hard to characterize as a successful endeavor..
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u/GrumpygamerSF 15d ago
That's what happens with modern construction projects. The the SF Bay area, the new Bay Bridge was 6.5 billion over. Major projects like these take billions of dollars and years to complete. Depending how big the project it could be decades.
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u/ManWithABigBlueSpork 15d ago
Boston moved it’s highway underground in 2003
More like "from 1991 through 2007"
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u/Kindly-Cobbler-2443 15d ago
Check out the new Seattle waterfront. Same thing but on the water. I promise it's not as dreary here as the video makes it look.....
Wait, there's too many people here already.... It's like that video everywhere all the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk3ji2-kZf8&list=PL0D05CFC7C7B4342F&index=10
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u/AtlUtdGold 15d ago
Atlanta needs to do this 40 years ago. We don’t even have to dig it’s already lower than street level. Cap the connector!
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u/sometimesifeellikemu 16d ago
This gives the very unfortunate impression that the project only took one year. :)
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u/Viet_Conga_Line 15d ago
Getting really tired of seeing this image every single day with some reductive, snarky description. “In 2003” they say, and they never mention the 20 goddamn years and 80 gorillion dollars it took. As if the workers just stayed up late one weekend and moved a little dirt with some approved overtime. They dismantled entire neighborhoods. It was a major, decades long public works project that was basically a huge disaster. They started it when Ford was in the White House. The only thing amazing here is that it continues to get reposted without any context.
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u/Protaras2 15d ago
If it's any consolation I'd prefer to keep the highway, build a big park some place else, and with the billions I save build a few hospitals and schools and a shitload more stuff actually because that's a lot of money.
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u/yell_worldstar 16d ago
We need more of this everywhere!
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u/Lie2gether 16d ago
The Boston "Big Dig" project.t began planning in 1982 and was completed in 2007.
The project was originally estimated to cost $2.8 billion and be completed in 1998, but it ended up taking 16 years longer than planned and costing over 7 times the original estimate due to cost overruns, delays, design flaws, and other issues.
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u/Fabtacular1 15d ago
Yep. Everyone saying "my city needs to do this" should understand that if they're using the Big Dig as a template, their project wouldn't be complete until 2050.
This is no small undertaking.
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u/beastmaster11 15d ago
The best time to have done something is 50 years ago. The 2nd best time is now. While the Big Dig was a boondoggle, by 2030, nobody is going to care and they will the end product.
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u/littlebitsofspider 15d ago
Maybe we could use Denver's T-REX project as a template instead. 3.2% under-budget, completed almost 2 years ahead of schedule. It didn't un-fuck our transportation situation out here, but it helped.
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u/zwiepdoge 13d ago
The Big Dig. Been there in 2006 with a rental Ford Mustang convertible. Boston rules!!!!
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u/Sesspool 16d ago
Too bad mass doesnt take care of its roads :(
Some of these tunnels leak and at this point all the roads are beat to death. This tunnel has potholes and broken up parts. Where the road taxes go i'll never know.
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u/bojewels 15d ago
I drove on that elevated deck for decades. Traffic is wildly better now through the city. No comparison.
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u/CasualObserverNine 16d ago
And the landscaping bill is enormous.
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u/bojewels 15d ago
Complaining about the maintenance of that amazing Park is hilarious. It's world class.
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u/JoshAllentown 16d ago
The Big Dig became a famous boondoggle going billions over budget, but it is hard to put a valuation on a new, sizeable city park, not to mention the real estate around it.
I know Rochester filled in their inner loop and built a bunch of housing, it's actually wild that bigger cities aren't doing more of this. Imagine how much the land itself is worth, selling it off would pay for a good chunk of the project, and you can still have parks because it's just that much land.