OK, The article says that in some areas it takes N minutes today to commute, as opposed to N-(5 to 10) minutes pre-Big-Dig.

But, shouldn't they be attempting to figure out what the commute time would be today sans-Big Dig? Would it be more or less then N?

I think the only good thing to come out of the whole thing is the Ted Williams Tunnell and Mass Pike that makes it easier to get to the airport at any hour.

The worst increase has been along I-93 northbound during the evening commute. In 1994, before the tunnels were dug, it took, on average, 12 minutes at peak evening rush hour to go the 11 miles from the Zakim Bridge to the Route 128 interchange in Woburn.

Yeah, sure, it used to take me a really long time to drive anywhere from the Zakim in 1994. Years...

The article says "...the bottlenecks were only pushed outward, as more drivers jockey for the limited space on the major commuting routes."

To me that implies that the central artery was at capacity, and the big dig increased capacity. The volume of drivers may be increasing at a rate so that other points are straining at their limits, but once those greater number of drivers get through those chokepoints and getting through the expressway towards their destination.

It may take one driver twice as long to get from the Zakim bridge to 128, but more drivers are getting there. I'd be more interested in seeing the number of drivers per minute at a particular stretch of road, not the number of minutes per driver.

I think one major benefit is that the new road is safer. You don't have onramps with no merge areas like you had on the old Artery, for one thing.