Big Dig: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
TollRoads News reviews the "terminally inept Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff joint venture at the Massachusetts Turnpike's Big Dig project", and examines how the project is improving mobility -- estimated to be worth $168 million per year.
"Dec 31 2007 marks the end of the terminally inept Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff project management joint venture at the Massachusetts Turnpike's Big Dig project. How such stellar companies could mismanage construction so totally is difficult to explain except in terms of the Turnpike's perverse structuring of the incentives - the send-us-the-bills-whatever deal which meant that the more B/PB screwed up the more they earned."
... "The project was soundly conceived and is delivering substantial transportation benefits. That's because Fred Salvucci's concept of replacing the old elevated with a higher capacity underground facility was excellent. Not only does the new facility have more travel lanes - 8 or 10 vs 6 previously - but it applies modern traffic engineering principles to minimize turbulence from the merges and the diverges of the expressway... The motorist benefits of all this have been studied and quantified, and they are huge."
- Login or register to post comments
- Email this page
- Boston Area Cities Receive Smart Growth Funding - Nov 13, 2011
- New MIT Data Analysis Tool Aims To Rationalize Planning - Oct 04, 2011
- Boston Bike Share Program Surpasses Expectations in Early Success - Sep 07, 2011
- New MIT Data Analysis Tool Aims To Rationalize Planning - Aug 04, 2011
- Boston's Transit Achieves New Balance with Bike-Sharing Program - Jul 30, 2011
Planetizen picks
Contribute
- The Rise of Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing
- What the Feds are Doing to Connect Housing Policy to Health Policy
- Why the Politics of Climate Change Matter
- Waste Disposal Becomes Sexy
- Murky Future for Two of D.C.'s Architectural Gems
- The Story Behind One of the Most Controversial Buildings in the Country
- The Benefits of Creating Hybrid Zoning Codes
- The Appeal of In-Town Big Box
- The Growing Appeal of Drinking From the Toilet
- How and Why Does an Architect Become Famous?
Volunteerism Plays Critical Role in Reaching World’s Millennium Development Goals
Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University
Feb 10, 2012
www.flickr.com
|
Motorist Benefits
"The motorist benefits of all this have been studied and quantified, and they are huge."
Isn't it wonderful to do a study that only calculates "motorist benefits." No need to worry about the costs of induced sprawl, the environmental costs, etc. No need to weigh costs against benefits.
It is like being back in the 1950s, when they were so naive that they just looked at the "motorist benefits" of adding extra freeway lanes.
Charles Siegel
Multiple Benefits
As Mr. Siegel knows full well the ancillary economic benefits of roads projects are no longer allowed in the evaluation of Federal ranking of roads projects.