Rocky Petralia on Boston’s Big Dig:

The first obstacle to overcome was “The Big Dig,” the most expensive highway project in the history of mankind. Bostonians rerouted I-93 into a 3.5 mile tunnel under the city, replacing a previously elevated roadway. They also built the Ted Williams Tunnel, which goes to Logan Airport. Since the project was completed in 2003 there have been leaks and other signs of poor execution and shoddy materials. But it wasn’t until July 10th, when four separate three-ton sections of ceiling collapsed, that most locals conceded the tunnel was “wicked bad.” One of the sections fell on a car traveling through the tunnel, killing a newlywed bride and injuring her husband. Inspectors have since discovered that you could go around New England and find basketball hoops nailed to trees with more skill than was used on these ceiling panels.

So the tunnels were closed. Fingers were pointed. Massachusetts’s’ Senators came to town and held a press conference. Sen. Kennedy said the important thing now was not to lay blame but to focus on the human tragedy, the death of Malena del Valle. It had a sad ring of familiarity to it, a young woman dead at the bottom of a river and Mr. Kennedy focusing us on mourning rather than blaming. Sen. Kerry stepped up and said that the money for the project came from Washington, but they trusted to locals in charge to spend it properly, so don’t blame him. He might have added that he voted against the tunnel before he voted for it, but I couldn’t keep listening. I had to pack.

technorati: big dig

This entry was posted on Monday, July 24th, 2006 at 6:53 pm by Insider and is filed under Your Tax Dollars In Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.