Ten Years Later: Evaluating the Big Dig

Anthony Flint takes a look back at the Big Dig—that infamous, long-delayed, well-over-budget project that created the most expensive highway in U.S. history.

After Flint spends a few paragraphs writing in a style close to prose poetry to describe the development process for the Central Artery and Tunnel project, we arrive to the present day—ten years after the official completion of the project. "How are we feeling now?" Flint asks. "Maybe there’s room for some grudging appreciation."

The feature length article provides background on the political and planning processes that lead up to the project before focusing on the outcomes of the project. On that latter point, Flint reports a mixed bag regarding the congestion relief pitched as a primary benefit of the project: "Looking at the new roadway system by itself, the Central Artery and Tunnel project is solving that problem [of congestion], with capacity to spare." Yet also, "[t]he theory of induced demand…has played out as predicted, particularly at the Ted Williams Tunnel, where traffic typically stacks up every evening trying to get to East Boston, Logan, and points north."

Flint also uses the perspective offered by the passage of town to analyze some of the design and execution of the project. One line sums up the analyses well: "for every triumph, there were gaffes." The article also includes evaluations about the potential transit investments that could have been funded with some of the project's $15 billion price tag as well as some of the project's benefits to the city's landscape, urban design, and development market. Flint concludes by considering whether the project could have been conceived and completed any other way.