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Who knew the old BB/rats guy was still around?

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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Comments

They were all over the place....hand lettered
signs (on a yellow background I think) with
the mysterious incantation: "Back the BB!"
and "Vincent J. Zarilli". For months, I had
no idea what the hell the BB was. The Boston
Bypass, of course!

If we're going to resurrect old signs, can we
get the Buzzy's Roast Beef sign back at Charles
Street?

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Does the Globe now just give a mouthpiece to any nut that comes along with an idea? This is pretty out there.

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Remembering the elevated highway in some form makes sense. When the Boston History Museum gets built, I'd like it to have a wall about the construction and destruction of the Central Artery, as well as the Big Dig. Tourists and forthcoming generations of locals would find the story of interest.

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I don't think a memorial is necessary, though. Wanna put a plaque saying it used to be there or whatever, then fine. But this guy wants to tout all its alleged benefits that no one else sees, that's nuts IMO.

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It seems to me that if this guy wants to bolt an already existing plaque onto an already existing girder, somebody should hand him a wrench and be done with it.

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The column is officially called "Bent 38."

"Bent" in this case is a noun meaning "a supporting unit of a bridge comprised of two or more piles connected by a cap or another member."

This is just one of the piles; the whole bent would include several more plus the cross beam. This piece was part of the 38th bent from the Charles River.

It's also the only part of the Central Artery in its original location on its original foundation, because it's outside the tunnel alignment. This pile was so far outside because it was on the outside of an on-ramp (a ramp that actually had been dismantled long before the Big Dig... it was removed when the Dock Square Garage was built).

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How about some graphic plaques like those near the Federal Courthouse on Fan Pier. There are 4 or 5 photo-plaques (not sure what to really call them) that illustrate the history of Boston harbor over the last few hundred years. They seem tasteful and informative to tourists and locals. If a similar things were dome for the CAT park, it could include photos and text detailing the history of the area.

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