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The latest dirt on the Big Dig

By adamg on Thu, 08/11/2011 - 8:40am

The Globe reports frozen dirt under a section of the Big Dig is thawing out faster than expected, causing a cavern down there that is filling up with water.

Yes, of course there's thawing frozen dirt - engineers froze the dirt to make it easier to put in tunnel segments. State officials say nothing to worry about - the segment will act like a bridge if the underground lake gets too big - and no need to ask for legal help from an unfrozen caveman lawyer.

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Comments

By O-FISH-L on Thu, 08/11/2011 - 8:45am.

Is John Kerry still referring to the Big Dig as a bargain? For once in my life I have to agree with Barney Frank, it would've been cheaper to raise the city than dig beneath it.

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By anon on Thu, 08/11/2011 - 9:10am.

Please. There's nothing to worry about. Didn't you read the article? I'm sure the incoming transportation secretary has got everything completely under control when it comes to maintenance and safety measures. After all, they hired the guy who is presently General Manager of the MBTA. If that doesn't give you a safe feeling, I don't know what will. No, really, I don't. This is Boston, after all.

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By Matt_J on Thu, 08/11/2011 - 9:27am.

I am not buying the official statements about safety especially when it involves a tunnel built with questionable concrete wearing away from leaks, becoming a bridge to cross an underwater lake that will get larger over time.

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By adamg on Thu, 08/11/2011 - 9:36am.

Dan Kennedy compiles a list.

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By anon on Thu, 08/11/2011 - 12:36pm.

It looked OK then, but I don't think I need to be in it frequently.

Good luck keeping that thing from being a major disaster. I say we send over those airport people to give Big Dig engineers and construction managers daily gropings and Rapiscan skin cancer infusions, just to be sure they don't reveal themselves to be terrorists.

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By BostonUrbEx on Thu, 08/11/2011 - 2:41pm.

I guarantee the Tip O'Neil is the first structure to collapse.

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By anon on Thu, 08/11/2011 - 2:59pm.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles...

WE CAN GUESS THE TOLL AN EARTHQUAKE would exact on Boston. In 1990, researchers predicted that a magnitude 6.2 quake would cause $2 billion to $10 billion in damage in the Boston area, along with "hundreds of deaths and thousands of major and minor injuries." An unpublished 1997 study of Boston forecast similar results. (The Loma Prieta quake caused about $10 billion in damage.) And in 1997, a Stanford University researcher concluded that -- given the high population density, large proportion of fragile buildings, and precarious soil conditions -- the risk of a quake causing catastrophic damage was greater in Boston than in San Francisco or Mexico City.

The city's most fragile buildings went up before seismic building codes were introduced to the city in 1973 and adopted statewide in 1975. Rolf Goetze, a researcher at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, estimates that about three-quarters of the city's 100,000 buildings were constructed before 1973. He adds that the city doesn't track how many of these older structures have been brought up to at least 1973 building standards.

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By anon on Thu, 08/11/2011 - 3:46pm.

I was told by by "a person in the know" that one of the problems with the old Artery is that the supports holding it up would come down in an earthquake, similar to the elevated highway in San Francisco in 1989.

Yes I know I don't have any documentation and I am anonymous (not connected to MA Highway) but I think that person knew what he was talking about.

I couldn't tell you about the safety of the tunnel but one would think they thought about earthquakes.

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By John-W on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 10:46am.

...one would think they thought about earthquakes.

You're not from around here are you?

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