Results tagged “thebigdig”

The Big Dig began in 1991. 14.8 billion dollars, hundreds of besmirched reputations, and one casualty later, the Big Dig is finally wrapped up. Well, at least officially. We'll be feeling the repercussions for a long time. To borrow a phrase from Rob Corddry's visit to Boston, we've earned our merit badge for corruption.

--Masshole victory! The Big Dig tunnels will get wireless antennas! Now drivers can be even more distracted! [Boston Globe] --Wolfe Styke, the MIT student who was stabbed multiple times by an ex, has been released from the hospital. His ex, Wellesley student Anna Tang, will be held in jail until her next court appearance on December 3. [Boston Globe] --A commuter train struck and killed a man walking on the tracks in Lynn yesterday...

Governor Deval Patrick is mulling over an idea that would lease bridges and roads to corporations. Casey Ross at the Herald has the details: If approved, a deal to privatize could mean leasing the Massachusetts Turnpike, Tobin Bridge or Big Dig tunnels to for-profit companies that would pay billions of dollars for the right to collect tolls from motorists for their use. Under such arrangements, the company leasing the road or bridge is responsible for...

Hate Love?! Oooh, We're all mixed up inside today. HATE! : One year ago TO-DAY, the Mass. Turnpike Authority, a.k.a. The Big Dig, killed a woman. Remember? Milena Del Valle was killed on July 10 2006 as she and her husband drove through the Big Dig's I-90 Connector. The zillion-dollar ceiling panels collapsed, crushing Angel Del Valle's wife beside him before he was able to crawl to safety. Today the National Transportation Safety Board...

The big news in this mornings papers and airwaves was that a report from the Transportation Finance Commission has released a report that pretty much every state transit authority (including the MBTA, DCR, Turnpike Authority, and Highway Department) is in deficit spending and working to just keep up what they've got going. The deficit spending will result in a projected $19 billion deficit over the next 20 years according to the report. That's just for...

One of the big stories today was really a big story of yesteryear. Michael Terranova, a Beacon Hill homeowner, was renovating his property when he uncovered a cache of 19th century artifacts. Robert Roberts (the man so nice they named him twice) was a free black man living in Boston serving the governor in the early 1800's when he built his home, the home that Terranova now inhabits. Boston University Archeologist, Ellen Berkland was called...

Two days after the I-90 connector tragedy, answers are starting to surface. Unfortunately, none of them are what you’d want to hear. Given the history of mismanagement surrounding the Big Dig project, it should come as no surprise that problems were discovered as early as 1999, when at least five bolts in the connector failed routine testing.

The Big Dig is still making the news and it's supposed to be finished already. Delay after delay we thought we finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, especially when they officially named the tunnel, but the job is still not done. Today the Big Dig headlines revolved around the millions of gallons of water that are still leaking into the underground roadways. A week ago it was the lagging state of the anticipated park construction.

Menino has come out voicing opposition to putting an Armenian genocide memorial on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. It is a reminder that the Greenway isn't at all finished – as if the Jersey barriers and haphazard chain-link fencing, backhoes, and dirt weren't enough. The Big Dig tunnels and roadways may be nearly complete, but the surface streets and greenspaces still show the public a seeming breakdown in infrastructure. Today's video is a public art piece put together titled "the Big Pig." The video shot in May 2000 (that's six years for those counting) is a slightly amusing adventure of a big pink pig cutout traipsing through some of the workzones. Boston may feel a sense of loss when those giant blue plywood sheets with a thin yellow stripe disappear from the landscape – it's just been so long.

While waiting in the bathroom line at the Diesel, Bostonist caught zombie overlord Alli Auldridge putting up a poster for Zombie March 2006. When cornered, Ms. Auldridge revealed her plans: on Saturday, April 29th, the local undead will walk from Davis Square to Harvard Square in search of a decent brain to eat. How long do you expect Zombie March 2006 to last? Are we talking about traditional, slowly-lurching Dawn of the Dead zombies,...

Bostonist is scrambling to make sure that all our servers and home computers are ready for y2k. The date will roll over in a matter of months and our computer will start thinking we live in 1900. The Big Dig will be complete: tunnels and bridges open, and a beautiful greenway will roll past the North End and Haymarket, the Green Line will extend into Somerville and Silver Line service will run smoothly connecting Dudley Square to the Airport. Oh, wait. It’s 2006. We forgot. FutureBoston has this snazzy video posted on their website to let us know what to expect after 2000. Most of the Big Dig projects have been completed and Armageddon didn’t hit when computers rolled past midnight on 1999. We’re not living in fantasy-land so it isn’t surprising that there is still some work to be done and contentious issues to solve. Take a look at what the “block” will show you.

Well, as if Bostonians haven't gone through enough with this whole Big Dig fiasco, another story has been outed by the Boston Globe today about how I-93 tunnels are now being called unsafe. Jack Lemley, who has been the big engineering honcho specifically dealing with the new tunnels, released a letter on March 9, revealing that he now feels that maybe they aren't that safe after all. (This is the same man who went to Beacon Hill this past fall and convinced lawmakers that they were completely safe.) Lemley claims he's changed his mind after the recent discovery of leaks throughout the tunnels; adding to that, he says the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority won't allow him to see records and data pertaining to these leaks, and that they don't even have a clue as to what they are going to do to stop them. Of course this has riled up the boys over at the MTA even more; Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello claims he hasn't gotten the letter yet and remains to stand by the idea that the tunnels are safe. What's Beacon's Hill take on all this? Gov. Romney has previously asked for Amorello to step down since all these problems started. Amorello refuses to and here we all go again. One big circus, otherwise known as "The Big Dig."