Big Dig
Stephen Heuser acknowledges the Central Artery had to come down, but, darnit, he misses the muscular exurberance of infrastructure that wasn't afraid to admit it was infrastructure. Yes, really.
Via Commonwealth Unbound.
Trailer for Mel Gibson's "Edge of Darkness," which features follows a man as he drives home to Roslindale in a typical afternoon commute through the O'Neill Tunnel (via Sam Baltrusis):
Warns it will shut down tunnels, highways it controls inside 128 if anti-toll people get a restraining order in court today. You know, like the entire Big Dig complex.
$15 billion and what do you get? A tunnel that's already too small for some trucks, that's what. The Globe reports the driver of a bigger than big rig smashed into an overhead sign in the Ted Williams Tunnel, then just kept going, at least, until some staties caught up with him on the Expressway in Dorchester.
Kevin Cullen does a nice job explaining how a company that paid a $50-million fine for supplying substandard concrete for the Big Dig is now getting state road contracts again.
This time it's from a group of motorists who want the return of all money the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has funneled to the Big Dig, Blue Mass. Group reports. The Massachusetts Turnpike Equity Trust says:
We have organized a trust approved by the Middlesex Probate Court that is open to any MassPike toll payer who has paid tolls at Route 128, Allston/Brighton, Sumner/Callahan Tunnels, or the Ted Williams Tunnel. We are trying to remedy and change the unfair toll collection policies of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority documents indicate that up to 58 cents of every dollar collected on the Boston Extension (from route 128 into Boston), and the Sumner/Callahan and Ted Williams tunnels is unlawfully diverted to pay for the Central Artery project ("Big Dig"). We toll payers are fed up with our toll monies being diverted unfairly to pay for the costs associated with the "Big Dig" - an unlawful tax that has unfairly burdened toll payers and bankrupted the Turnpike Authority. We urge other toll payers to join us in our fight for the return of our unlawfully expropriated toll monies.
Their lawyer is Jan Schlichtman, the guy who led the Woburn toxic-chemicals-in-the-water lawsuit.
Our new transportation secretary, appointed in the middle of a snowstorm for minimum effect, tells the Globe he doesn't know what "Big Dig culture" means:
When asked yesterday whether he was a part of the Big Dig culture, Aloisi said: "I don't even know what that phrase means."
At Blue Mass. Group, David provides a handy little primer for Mr. Aloisi - whose new boss made getting rid of "Big Dig culture" part of his campaign, concludes:
... The unanswered question -- for Aloisi, for the Governor, and for all of us -- is whether Aloisi is the right guy to navigate the state's transportation bureaucracy out of that culture, and into the new era of reform that we've been promised. For all of our sakes, I sure hope so.
Matt Laskowski stitched together an interesting aerial view using some Microsoft Live overhead images to show how things have changed since the Central Artery was taken down.
Heradl reports: Bernard Cohen quits, Patrick looks ready to appoint former Turnpike Authority lawyer James Aloisi to deal with financial mess left over from Big Dig. Oh, and the T.
Channel 4 employee has terrifying encounter with some long black thing hanging from the tunnel ceiling this morning. They could call it Diggy.
Associated Press reports on the settlement between the family of Milena Del Valle of Jamaica Plain and 15 entities, including contractors and the turnpike authority over her wrongful death in 2006.
Dave Atkins took a walk along the Rose Kennedy Greenway recently and was amazed at the change it's meant:
... Gazing along what used to be an impassable mass of green steel and concrete once can see an arc of green and from one vantage point, glimpse South Station and the spire of the Old North Church at the same time. It is possible to walk between all these parts of the city--and also to see the harbor. I remember how as a college student I was hardly even aware there was a Boston Harbor--it was hidden behind the highway. Today the city is connected and once can see the bay, the airport, and beyond. ...
He notes the Greenway is holding a coming out party on Saturday, Oct. 4.
Yoav now knows first hand what happens when you get a flat in the O'Neill Tunnel:
... I'm just cruising along (below the speed limit, thank you very much), when all of I sudden I hear a bang and feel a jerk on the back right side of the car. Sure enough, the tire pressure warning indicator lights up.
Unfortunately I had to go a little ways until I found a reasonable spot to pull over, because the right-hand lanes were full of cones and construction equipment.
In fact, I bet it was a stray piece of equipment or gear that caused my tire explosion. ...
I-93 shut at Southampton Street for 15 minutes as firefighters rushed to put out the fire in the ammo-filled camper on the northbound side.
Meanwhile, further north, part of the Leverett Connector is cracked. No cause for alarm, turnpike authority says, banning trucks weighing more than 40 tons just to be safe.
State honcho vows: No tolls on I-93. Which means that tolls on the turnpike will continue to not go away to help pay for the Big Dig.
Commute-a-holic, who lives west of Boston, is not happy:
... I don't understand why North Shore and South Shore drivers get a free ride into Boston, where as everyone who lives West of Boston need to continue to pay to get into the city. It is so unfair. ...
Alyk grows weary of all the "but there aren't any trees!" carping about the Greenway; posts a photo of what the Comm. Ave. mall in the Back Bay (you know, tree-lined Comm. Ave.?) looked like in 1872, after it was built.
The Globe reports authorities think a body discovered at Boston Sand and Gravel is that of a man who abandoned his car on the ramp connecting the Tobin with the Zakim last night.
A spokesman for the Suffolk County DA's office says state police are looking at how the 44-year-old Chelsea resident wound up there, but that foul play is not suspected.
Liam posts some before and after photos and info about Greenway tours and volunteer groups.
Specialkvi made this Big Dig video mashup:
And let's not forget the old Central Artery.
Not that that stopped the guy who tied up traffic Tuesday:
... In a video released by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Thursday, the flatbed truck carrying a crane is seen heading into the Ted Williams Tunnel. It triggered the overheight sensors and the warning sign before the tunnel's entrance, but the driver didn't stop. ...
During Big Dig construction, the yellow signs about rats and the mysterious B.B. were as omnipresent as construction equipment. The Globe dredges up signmaker Vincent Zarilli, who now wants the turnpike authority to put up a couple of plaques in honor of the old Central Artery, which he is tired of having maligned (his BB project would have involved building a bypass on Boston Harbor).
Turnpike mouthpiece Mac Daniel says the authority is looking hard and long at where to put the old Fitzgerald plaques that used to grace the elevated monster, but, honestly, Mac, what would be more appropriate for them than the Curt Schilling Memorial Girder next to Quincy Market? Now, it just stands there confusing tourists who have no idea what the thing is (as well as us locals who wonder why Schilling gets his own girder).
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