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79-404: The North End Parks are built on Boston Big Dig parcels #8 and #10, which lie on opposite sides of Hanover Street. Parcels #8 and #10 were reserved by Boston's zoning code to be "programmed, designed, and detailed for the primary benefit of the adjacent North End community through the development of a series of spaces which invite both residents and visitors to use the park while clearly delineating

158-591: A cost increase or budget overrun , involves unexpected incurred costs . When these costs are in excess of budgeted amounts due to a value engineering underestimation of the actual cost during budgeting, they are known by these terms. Cost overruns are common in infrastructure , building , and technology projects. For IT projects , a 2004 industry study by the Standish Group found an average cost overrun of 43 percent; 71 percent of projects came in over budget, exceeded time estimates, and had estimated too narrow

237-542: A scope ; and total waste was estimated at $ 55 billion per year in the US alone. Many major construction projects have incurred cost overruns; cost estimates used to decide whether important transportation infrastructure should be built can mislead grossly and systematically. Cost overrun is distinguished from cost escalation , which is an anticipated growth in a budgeted cost due to factors such as inflation. Recent works by Ahiaga-Dagbui and Smith suggests an alternative to what

316-567: A Third Harbor Tunnel plan that was hugely controversial in its own right, because it would have disrupted the Maverick Square area of East Boston . It was never built. A major reason for the all-day congestion was that the Central Artery carried not only north–south traffic, but it also carried east–west traffic. Boston's Logan Airport lies across Boston Harbor in East Boston; and before

395-499: A book or enjoy a local slice. The parks leaning rails on Hanover Street feature quotes from some of the North End's prominent residents as well as a timeline of historic events. The parks are divided by the reconnected Hanover Street, which can be shut down to connect the two parks. 42°21′44.49″N 71°3′21.15″W  /  42.3623583°N 71.0558750°W  / 42.3623583; -71.0558750 Big Dig The Big Dig

474-408: A bridge with a construction budget of $ 100 million where the actual cost was $ 150 million. This scenario could be truthfully represented by the following statement The final example is the most commonly used as it specifically describes the cost overruns exclusively whereas the other two describe the overrun as an aspect of the total expense. In any case care should be taken to accurately describe what

553-627: A bust of shipbuilder Donald McKay in East Boston ; blue interior lighting of the Zakim Bridge; and the Miller's River Littoral Way walkway and lighting under the loop ramps north of the Charles River . Extensive landscape planting, as well as a maintenance program to support the plantings, was requested by many community members during public meetings. The Big Dig separated the co-mingled traffic from

632-402: A neighborhood presence and oversight of the park." The 3-acre (12,000 m) parks are a significant "hinge" point between the grand civic spaces of Quincy Market , Government Center , Haymarket and the intimacy of Boston's oldest neighborhood. The city's historic Freedom Trail, which used to sit in the dark shadow of the elevated highway, weaves through the park. The North End Parks site

711-399: A number of state-of-the-art construction techniques. Because the old elevated highway (which remained in operation throughout the construction process) rested on pylons located throughout the designated dig area, engineers first utilized slurry wall techniques to create 120-foot-deep (37 m) concrete walls upon which the highway could rest. These concrete walls also stabilized the sides of

790-413: A path system, plazas with pergolas and water features that run through both parks and appeal to a wide range of people, including North End residents of all ages and the thousands of tourists and Bostonians who visit each year. The enthusiastic involvement of the neighborhood and an engaging public process were essential in shaping the design of a new "front porch" for the North End. A boxwood hedge frames

869-402: A short portion of I-93, but additional lanes and direct connections are provided for this traffic. The result was a 62% reduction in vehicle hours of travel on I-93, the airport tunnels, and the connection from Storrow Drive, from an average 38,200 hours per day before construction (1994–1995) to 14,800 hours per day in 2004–2005, after the project was largely complete. The savings for travelers

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948-560: A silver bullet in finding solutions to the recurring problem of cost overruns in megaprojects. A newly discovered possible cause of cost overruns is value engineering , and an approach to correct value engineering cost overruns known as value-driven-design. In response to problem of cost overruns on major projects, the UK Government set up a Major Projects Authority to provide project assurance to HM Treasury and other Government departments undertaking major projects. Independent review of

1027-497: A traditional cut-and-cover method had been applied. Other challenges included existing subway tunnels crossing the path of the underground highway. To build slurry walls past these tunnels, it was necessary to dig beneath the tunnels and to build an underground concrete bridge to support the tunnels' weight, without interrupting rail service. The project was managed by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, with

1106-518: A year by increasing economic productivity and decreasing motor vehicle operating costs. That study did not look at highways outside the Big Dig construction area and did not take into account new congestion elsewhere. Towards the end of the Big Dig in 2003, it was estimated that the demolition of the Central Artery highway would cause a $ 732 million increase in property value in Boston's financial district, with

1185-455: Is defined by the surrounding streets—John Fitzgerald Surface Road, North, Cross and Sudbury streets—and by the O'Neill/I-93 tunnel structures and interchanges at the Callahan and Sumner tunnels beneath the parks. Once a "land bridge" that connected the peninsula of Boston with Sudbury Street to the west, the site has a rich history, more than 300 years, as a crossing ground for Bostonians. This site

1264-592: Is supported by two forked towers connected to the span by cables and girders. It was the first bridge in the country to employ this method and it was, at the time, the widest cable-stayed bridge in the world, having since been surpassed by the Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge . Meanwhile, construction continued on the Tobin Bridge approach. By the time all parties agreed on

1343-438: Is traditionally seen as an overrun in the construction field. They attempt to make a distinction between the often conflated causes of construction cost underestimation and eventual cost overruns . Critical to their argument is the point of reference for measuring cost overruns. Whereas some measure the size of cost overruns as the difference between cost at the time of decision to build and final completion costs, others measure

1422-718: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 . Nashua Street Park on the Boston side was completed in 2003, by McCourt Construction with $ 7.9 million in funding from MassDOT. As of 2017, $ 30.5 million had been transferred to the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation to complete five projects. Another incomplete but required project is the South Bank Bridge over the MBTA Commuter Rail tracks at North Station (connecting Nashua Street Park to

1501-527: The Charles River crossing had been a source of major controversy throughout the design phase of the project. Many environmental advocates preferred a river crossing entirely in tunnels, but this, along with 27 other plans, was rejected as too costly. Finally, with a deadline looming to begin construction on a separate project that would connect the Tobin Bridge to the Charles River crossing, Salvucci overrode

1580-494: The Charles River , created the Rose Kennedy Greenway in the space vacated by the previous I-93 elevated roadway, and funded more than a dozen projects to improve the region's public transportation system. Planning for the project began in 1982; the construction work was carried out between 1991 and 2006; and the project concluded on December 31, 2007. The project's general contractor was Bechtel and Parsons Brinckerhoff

1659-759: The Charles River Dam and lock, a maintenance facility, and a planned pedestrian walkway across the Charles River next to the MBTA Commuter Rail drawbridge at North Station (connecting Nashua Street Park and North Point Park). MassDOT is funding the South Bank Park, and replacement of the North Washington Street Bridge (construction Aug 2018–23). EF Education is funding public greenspace improvements as part of its three-phase expansion at North Point. Remaining funding may be used to construct

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1738-581: The North-South Rail Link , which would have connected North and South Stations (the major passenger train stations in Boston), but this aspect of the project was ultimately dropped by the state transportation administration early in the Dukakis administration. Negotiations with the federal government had led to an agreement to widen some of the lanes in the new harbor tunnel, and accommodating these would require

1817-604: The Red and Blue subway lines, and to restore the Green Line streetcar service to the Arborway in Jamaica Plain have not been completed. The Red and Blue subway line connection underwent initial design, but no funding has been designated for the project. The Arborway Line restoration has been abandoned, following a final court decision in 2011. The original Big Dig plan also included

1896-471: The Artery Arts Program was seen as a potential liability, even though there was support and interest from the public and professional arts organizations in the area. At the beginning of the highway design process, a temporary arts program was initiated, and over 50 proposals were selected. However, development began on only a few projects before funding for the program was cut. Permanent public art that

1975-520: The Big Dig and the Turnpike's Boston Extension from the 1960s being financially and legally joined by the legislature as the Metropolitan Highway System . Design and construction was supervised by a joint venture of Bechtel Corporation and Parsons Brinckerhoff . Because of the enormous size of the project—too large for any company to undertake alone—the design and construction of the Big Dig

2054-618: The Big Dig was passed by the US Congress , but it was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan for being too expensive. When Congress overrode the veto, the project had its green light and ground was first broken in 1991. In 1997, the state legislature created the Metropolitan Highway System and transferred responsibility for the Central Artery and Tunnel "CA/T" Project from the Massachusetts Highway Department and

2133-580: The Big Dig, the only access to the airport from downtown was through the paired Callahan and Sumner tunnels. Traffic on the major highways from west of Boston—the Massachusetts Turnpike and Storrow Drive —mostly traveled on portions of the Central Artery to reach these tunnels. Getting between the Central Artery and the tunnels involved short diversions onto city streets, increasing local congestion. A number of public transportation projects were included as part of an environmental mitigation for

2212-619: The Big Dig. The most expensive was the building of the Phase II Silver Line tunnel under Fort Point Channel , done in coordination with Big Dig construction. Silver Line buses now use this tunnel and the Ted Williams Tunnel to link South Station and Logan Airport. Construction of the MBTA Green Line extension beyond Lechmere to Medford/Tufts station opened on December 12, 2022. As of 2023 , promised projects to connect

2291-660: The Central Artery became chronically gridlocked. The Sargent moratorium led to the rerouting of I-95 away from Boston around the Route ;128 beltway and the conversion of the cleared land in the southern part of the city into the Southwest Corridor linear park , as well as a new right-of-way for the Orange Line subway and Amtrak . Parts of the planned I-695 right-of-way remain unused and under consideration for future mass-transit projects. The original 1948 Master Plan included

2370-475: The Central Artery, an elevated expressway which eventually was constructed between the downtown area and the waterfront. Governor John Volpe interceded in the 1950s to change the design of the last section of the Central Artery, putting it underground through the Dewey Square Tunnel . While traffic moved somewhat better, the other problems remained. There was chronic congestion on the Central Artery (I-93),

2449-683: The I-93 design, construction of the Tobin connector (today known as the "City Square Tunnel" for a Charlestown area it bypasses) was far along, significantly adding to the cost of constructing the US Route 1 interchange and retrofitting the tunnel. Boston blue clay and other soils extracted from the path of the tunnel were used to cap many local landfills , fill in the Granite Rail Quarry in Quincy , and restore

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2528-582: The Inner Belt, was subsequently renamed Interstate 695 . (The law establishing the Interstate highway system was enacted in 1956.) The Inner Belt District was to pass to the west of the downtown core, through the neighborhood of Roxbury and the cities of Brookline , Cambridge , and Somerville . Earlier controversies over impact of the Boston extension of the Massachusetts Turnpike , particularly on

2607-451: The MTA's representative. Eventually, MTA combined some of its employees with joint venture employees in an integrated project organization. This was intended to make management more efficient, but it hindered MTA's ability to independently oversee project activities because MTA and the joint venture had effectively become partners in the project. In addition to political and financial difficulties,

2686-529: The Massachusetts Governor's Office to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA). The MTA, which had little experience in managing an undertaking of the scope and magnitude of the CA/T Project, hired a joint venture to provide preliminary designs, manage design consultants and construction contractors, track the project's cost and schedule, advise MTA on project decisions, and (in some instances) act as

2765-527: The Massachusetts Turnpike and the Sumner and Callahan tunnels. While only one net lane in each direction was added to the north–south I-93, several new east–west lanes became available. East–west traffic on the Massachusetts Turnpike/I-90 now proceeds directly through the Ted Williams Tunnel to Logan Airport and Route 1A beyond. Traffic between Storrow Drive and the Callahan and Sumner Tunnels still uses

2844-769: The North Point Inlet pedestrian bridge, and a pedestrian walkway over Leverett Circle . Before being replaced with surface access during the reconstruction of the Science Park MBTA Green Line station, Leverett Circle had pedestrian bridges with stairs that provided elevated access between the station, the Charles River Parks, and the sidewalk to the Boston Museum of Science . The replacement ramps would comply with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements and allow easy travel by wheelchair or bicycle over

2923-460: The busy intersection. While not a legally mandated requirement, public art was part of the urban design planning process (and later design development work) through the Artery Arts Program. The intent of the program was to integrate public art into highway infrastructure (retaining walls, fences, and lighting) and the essential elements of the pedestrian environment (walkways, park landscape elements, and bridges). As overall project costs increased,

3002-511: The circle. All southbound lanes of I-93 opened to traffic on March 5, 2005, including the left lane of the Zakim Bridge, and all of the refurbished Dewey Square Tunnel . By the end of December 2004, 95% of the Big Dig was completed. Major construction remained on the surface, including construction of final ramp configurations in the North End and in the South Bay interchange, and reconstruction of

3081-451: The city, not reduced or eliminated (although some trips are now faster). The report states, "Ultimately, many motorists going to and from the suburbs at peak rush hours are spending more time stuck in traffic, not less." The Globe also asserted that their analysis provides a fuller picture of the traffic situation than a state-commissioned study done two years earlier, in which the Big Dig was credited with helping to save at least $ 167 million

3160-404: The cost inflation of custom homes. A less explored possible cause of cost overruns on construction project is the escalation of commitment to a course of action. This theory, grounded in social psychology and organisation behaviour, suggests the tendency of people and organisations to become locked-in and entrapped in a particular course of action and thereby 'throw good money after bad' to make

3239-591: The decades passed and other planned expressways were cancelled, continually escalating vehicular traffic that was well beyond its design capacity. Local businesses again wanted relief, city leaders sought a reuniting of the waterfront with the city, and nearby residents desired removal of the matte green-painted elevated road which mayor Thomas Menino called Boston's "other Green Monster " (as an unfavorable comparison to Fenway Park 's famed left-field wall). MIT engineers Bill Reynolds and (eventual state Secretary of Transportation) Frederick P. Salvucci envisioned moving

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3318-400: The eastbound lanes on January 19. The next phase, moving the elevated Interstate 93 underground, was completed in two stages: northbound lanes opened on March 29, 2003, and southbound lanes (in a temporary configuration) on December 20, 2003. A tunnel underneath Leverett Circle connecting eastbound Storrow Drive to I-93 North and the Tobin Bridge opened December 19, 2004, easing congestion at

3397-524: The elevated six-lane highway through the center of downtown Boston, which was, in the words of Pete Sigmund, "like a funnel full of slowly-moving, or stopped, cars (and swearing motorists)." In 1959, the 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km) road section carried approximately 75,000 vehicles a day, but by the 1990s, this had grown to 190,000 vehicles a day. Traffic jams of 16 hours were predicted for 2010. The expressway had tight turns, an excessive number of entrances and exits, entrance ramps without merge lanes, and as

3476-435: The excavation and the possibility of disrupting the homes of millions of rats , causing them to roam the streets of Boston in search of new housing. By the time the federal environmental clearances were delivered in 1994, the process had taken some seven years, during which time inflation greatly increased the project's original cost estimates. Reworking such a busy corridor without seriously restricting traffic flow required

3555-450: The excavation to take place below. Construction crews also used ground freezing (an artificial induction of permafrost ) to help stabilize surrounding ground as they excavated the tunnel. This was the largest tunneling project undertaken beneath railroad lines anywhere in the world. The ground freezing enabled safer, more efficient excavation , and also assisted in environmental issues, as less contaminated fill needed to be exported than if

3634-474: The financial effectiveness of project assurance in reducing cost overruns found the project assurance process to be effective in reducing cost overruns and recommended an expansion of the process to cover most of the Government's project portfolio. Project assurance is now also being used by private sector companies undertaking major projects. Cost overrun can be described in multiple ways. For example, consider

3713-613: The heavily populated neighborhood of Brighton , and the additional large amount of housing that would have had to be destroyed led to massive community opposition to both the Inner Belt and the Boston section of I-95. By 1970, building demolition and land clearances had been completed along the I-95 right of way through the neighborhoods of Roxbury, Jamaica Plain , the South End and Roslindale , which led to secession threats by Hyde Park , Boston's youngest and southernmost neighborhood (which I-95

3792-598: The impact of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project on the community, representing the neighborhoods to government agencies, keeping the community informed, developing a list of priorities of immediate neighborhood concerns, and promoting responsible and appropriate development of the post-construction artery corridor in the North End and Waterfront neighborhoods. The political, financial and residential obstacles were magnified when several environmental and engineering obstacles occurred. The downtown area through which

3871-455: The mainline roadway. The Connector ultimately used a pair of ramps that had been constructed for Interstate 695 , enabling the mainline I-93 to carry more traffic that would have used I-695 under the original Master Plan. When construction began, the project cost, including the Charles River crossing, was estimated at $ 5.8 billion. Eventual cost overruns were so high that the chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, James Kerasiotes ,

3950-436: The objections and chose a variant of the plan known as "Scheme Z". This plan was considered to be reasonably cost-effective, but had the drawback of requiring highway ramps stacked up as high as 100 feet (30 m) immediately adjacent to the Charles River. The city of Cambridge objected to the visual impact of the chosen Charles River crossing design. The city sued to revoke the project's environmental certificate and forced

4029-526: The opening ceremony was held for the I-90 Connector Tunnel, extending the Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate 90) east into the Ted Williams Tunnel , and onwards to Boston Logan International Airport . The Ted Williams tunnel had been completed and was in limited use for commercial traffic and high-occupancy vehicles since late 1995. The westbound lanes opened on the afternoon of January 18 and

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4108-580: The original project plan were dropped due to the massive cost overruns on the highway portion of the project. $ 99.1 million was allocated for mitigating improvements to the Charles River Basin , including the construction of North Point Park in Cambridge and Paul Revere Park in Charlestown. The North Bank Bridge, providing pedestrian and bicycle connectivity between the parks, was not funded until

4187-432: The perennial gardens of irises, lavender, peonies and poppies that border the western edge of the parks. A variety of plants will flower continuously through spring, summer and fall. Trees such as magnolia, ash and a larger Washington elm adorn the parks. As a vibrant expression of Italian origins of today's North End, the community porch pergola is planted with flowering vines. Chairs and tables and benches abound to read

4266-488: The project planners to redesign the river crossing again. Swiss engineer Christian Menn took over the design of the bridge. He suggested a cradle cable-stayed bridge that would carry ten lanes of traffic. The plan was accepted and construction began on the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge . The bridge employed an asymmetrical design and a hybrid of steel and concrete was used to construct it. The distinctive bridge

4345-541: The project received resistance from residents of Boston's historic North End, who in the 1950s had seen 20% of the neighborhood's businesses displaced by development of the Central Artery. In 1993, the North End Waterfront Central Artery Committee (NEWCAC) created, co-founded by Nancy Caruso, representing residents, businesses, and institutions in the North End and Waterfront neighborhoods of Boston. The NEWCAC Committee's goal included lessening

4424-528: The project was completed in December 2007 at a cost of over $ 8.08 billion (in 1982 dollars, $ 21.5 billion adjusted for inflation), a cost overrun of about 190%. As a result of a death, leaks, and other design flaws, the Parsons Brinckerhoff and Bechtel consortium agreed to pay $ 407 million in restitution and several smaller companies agreed to pay a combined sum of approximately $ 51 million. This project

4503-575: The proposed South Bank Park, which is currently a parking lot under the Zakim Bridge at the Charles River locks). Improvements in the lower Charles River Basin include the new walkway at Lovejoy Wharf (constructed by the developer of 160 North Washington Street, the new headquarters of Converse ), the Lynch Family Skate Park (constructed in 2015 by the Charles River Conservancy), rehabilitation of historic operations buildings for

4582-475: The replacement parks providing an additional $ 252 million in value. Additionally, as a result of the Big Dig, a large amount of waterfront space was opened up, which is now a high-rent residential and commercial area called the Seaport District . The development of Seaport alone was estimated to create $ 7 billion in private investment and 43,000 jobs. Cost overruns A cost overrun , also known as

4661-476: The requirements or targets rises during the project, is common. Finally, political-economic explanations see overrun as the result of strategic misrepresentation of scope or budgets. Historically, political explanations for cost overrun have been seen to be the most dominant. In the USA, the architectural firm Home Architects has attributed this to a human trait they call "Psychology of Construction Cost Denial", regarding

4740-422: The site, preventing cave-ins during the continued excavation process. The multi-lane Interstate highway also had to pass under South Station 's seven railroad tracks, which carried over 40,000 commuters and 400 trains per day. To avoid multiple relocations of train lines while the tunneling advanced, as had been initially planned, a specially designed jack was constructed to support the ground and tracks to allow

4819-539: The size of overruns as the difference between cost at contract award and final completion cost. This leads to a wide range in the size of overruns reported in different studies. Four types of explanation for cost overrun exist: technical , psychological , political - economic , value engineering . Technical explanations account for cost overrun in terms of imperfect forecasting techniques, inadequate data, etc. Psychological explanations account for overrun in terms of optimism bias with forecasters. Scope creep , where

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4898-653: The surface of Spectacle Island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area . The Storrow Drive Connector , a companion bridge to the Zakim, began carrying traffic from I-93 to Storrow Drive in 1999. The project had been under consideration for years, but was opposed by the wealthy residents of the Beacon Hill neighborhood. However, it finally was accepted because it would funnel traffic bound for Storrow Drive and downtown Boston away from

4977-515: The surface streets. The final ramp downtown—exit 16A (formerly 20B) from I-93 south to Albany Street —opened January 13, 2006. In 2006, the two Interstate 93 tunnels were dedicated as the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel , after the former Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts who pushed to have the Big Dig funded by the federal government. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

5056-487: The tunnel to be deeper and mechanically vented; this left no room for the rail lines, and having diesel trains (then in use) passing through the tunnel would have substantially increased the cost of the ventilation system. The project was conceived in the 1970s by the Boston Transportation Planning Review to replace the rusting elevated six-lane Central Artery. The expressway separated downtown from

5135-517: The tunnel without endangering the existing elevated highway above. Eventually, they created horizontal braces as wide as the tunnel, then cut away the elevated highway's struts, and lowered it onto the new braces. Three alternative construction methods were studied with their corresponding structural design to address existing conditions, safety measures, and constructability. In addition to codified loads, construction loads were computed to support final design and field execution . On January 18, 2003,

5214-542: The tunnels were to be dug was largely land fill , and included existing Red Line and Blue Line subway tunnels as well as innumerable pipes and utility lines that would have to be replaced or moved. Tunnel workers encountered many unexpected geological and archaeological barriers, ranging from glacial debris to foundations of buried houses and a number of sunken ships lying within the reclaimed land. The project received approval from state environmental agencies in 1991, after satisfying concerns including release of toxins by

5293-708: The venture succeed. This defies conventional rationality behind subjective expected utility theory. Ahiaga-Dagbui and Smith explore the effects of escalation of commitment on project delivery in construction using the case of the Scottish Parliament project. Also, a recent study has suggested that principles of chaos theory can be employed to understand how cost overruns emerge in megaprojects . This paper seeks to reclassify megaprojects as chaotic systems that are nonlinear and therefore difficult to predict. Using cases of cost overruns in oil and gas megaprojects, this study makes strong argument that chaos theory can indeed be

5372-415: The waterfront, and was increasingly choked with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Business leaders were more concerned about access to Logan Airport , and pushed instead for a third harbor tunnel. Planning for the Big Dig as a project officially began in 1982, with environmental impact studies starting in 1983. After years of extensive lobbying for federal dollars, a 1987 public works bill appropriating funding for

5451-476: The whole expressway underground. Another important motivation for the final form of the Big Dig was the abandonment of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works' intended expressway system through and around Boston. The Central Artery, as part of Mass. DPW's Master Plan of 1948, was originally planned to be the downtown Boston stretch of Interstate 95 , and was signed as such; a bypass road called

5530-614: Was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the then elevated Central Artery of Interstate 93 that cut across Boston into the O'Neill Tunnel and built the Ted Williams Tunnel to extend Interstate 90 to Logan International Airport . Those two projects were the origin of the official name, the Central Artery/Tunnel Project ( CA/T Project ). Additionally, the project constructed the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge over

5609-564: Was also slated to go through). By 1972, with relatively little work done on the Southwest Corridor portion of I-95 and none on the potentially massively disruptive Inner Belt, Governor Francis Sargent put a moratorium on highway construction within the Route ;128 corridor, except for the final short stretch of Interstate 93. In 1974, the remainder of the Master Plan was canceled. With ever-increasing traffic volumes funneled onto I-93 alone,

5688-552: Was also the low point between Beacon Hill and Copps Hill and subsequently was the logical choice for a mill canal that connected the swampy area known as the Mill Pond (later the Bulfinch Triangle) with the bay. GGN and Crosby Schlessinger Smallridge designed North End Parks. The opening ceremony for the parks was held on November 5, 2007. The North End Parks design concept features flexible spaces including green landscapes with

5767-510: Was broken up into dozens of smaller subprojects with well-defined interfaces between contractors. Major heavy-construction contractors on the project included Jay Cashman , Modern Continental , Obayashi Corporation , Perini Corporation , Peter Kiewit Sons' Incorporated , J. F. White , and the Slattery division of Skanska USA. (Of those, Modern Continental was awarded the greatest gross value of contracts, joint ventures included.) The nature of

5846-413: Was developed in response to traffic congestion on Boston's historically tangled streets which were laid out centuries before the advent of the automobile . As early as 1930, the city's Planning Board recommended a raised express highway running north–south through the downtown district in order to draw through traffic off the city streets. Commissioner of Public Works William Callahan promoted plans for

5925-443: Was estimated at $ 166 million annually in the same 2004–2005 time frame. Travel times on the Central Artery northbound during the afternoon peak hour were reduced 85.6%. A 2008 Boston Globe report asserted that waiting time for the majority of trips actually increased as a result of demand induced by the increased road capacity. Because more drivers were opting to use the new roads, traffic bottlenecks were only pushed outward from

6004-403: Was fired in 2000. His replacement had to commit to an $ 8.55 billion cap on federal contributions. The total expenses eventually passed $ 15 billion. Interest brought this cost to $ 21.93 billion. Several unusual engineering challenges arose during the project, requiring unusual solutions and methods to address them. At the beginning of the project, engineers had to figure out the safest way to build

6083-407: Was funded includes: super graphic text and facades of former West End houses cast into the concrete elevated highway abutment support walls near North Station by artist Sheila Levrant de Bretteville ; Harbor Fog, a sensor-activated mist, light and sound sculptural environment by artist Ross Miller in parcel 17; a historical sculpture celebrating the 18th and 19th century shipbuilding industry and

6162-596: Was required under the Federal Clean Air Act to mitigate air pollution generated by the highway improvements. Secretary of Transportation Fred Salvucci signed an agreement with the Conservation Law Foundation in 1990 enumerating 14 specific projects the state agreed to build. This list was affirmed in a 1992 lawsuit settlement. Projects which have been completed include: However, some projects were removed: Some surface treatments that were part of

6241-662: Was the engineer, who worked as a consortium, both overseen by the Massachusetts Highway Department . The Big Dig was the most expensive highway project in the United States, and was plagued by cost overruns , delays, leaks, design flaws, accusations of poor execution and use of substandard materials, criminal charges and arrests, and the death of one motorist. The project was originally scheduled to be completed in 1998 at an estimated cost of $ 2.8 billion (US$ 7.4 billion adjusted for inflation as of 2020 ). However,

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