The Boston tunnel was a pretty great example of the massive weight politics and hiring/mismanaging bad gov contractors puts on every infrastructure project (it "started" in 1982, broke ground in 1991, and finished 2007 at 200% over budget):
> The Big Dig was the most expensive highway project in the US, and was plagued by cost overruns, delays, leaks, design flaws, charges of poor execution and use of substandard materials, criminal arrests, and one death. The project was originally scheduled to be completed in 1998 at an estimated cost of $2.8 billion (in 1982 dollars, US$6.0 billion adjusted for inflation as of 2006). However, the project was completed in December 2007 at a cost of over $8.08 billion (in 1982 dollars, $14.6 billion adjusted for inflation, meaning a cost overrun of about 190%) as of 2006.
OTOH, it was eventually completed and it is a big improvement for a variety of reasons (including the elimination of an ugly deteriorating elevated highway) even though Boston traffic is mostly as bad as it's ever been.
even though Boston traffic is mostly as bad as it's ever been
Boston traffic is not even close to being as bad as it was during the mid-to-late '90s. Back in those days, Medford to Dorchester would a 60-to-90 minute odyssey between 6am to 10am and 3pm too 7pm. Yeah, there is stop-and-go traffic at peak hours, but back in the day, it was often faster to take 128 to travel between the northern and southern burbs, right now it's just normal rush hour traffic.
Fair enough. I'm more familiar with East-West driving than North-South on 93. My perception is that the morning commute into Cambridge/Boston (and the reverse commute) via either the Pike or Route 2 is worse than it was ten years ago. But that may just reflect how relatively built-up Cambridge has become. TBH, the issue is mostly how long it takes to move on surface streets within the city.
2 is worse than ever because the density of rich people from Littleton on east is too high for the state to steamroll them which is what would need to happen for those lights to turn into overpasses and additional lanes to appear.
90 is terrible but that has more to do with the fact that Worcester is a much cheaper place to live.
Traffic may be as bad as it’s ever been, but the areas that formerly were elevated roads are now wonderful green spaces. So thankful they did it, and wish it could be done more both in Boston and elsewhere, but the gigantic cost must make it overwhelming for anywhere to consider doing that again.
At least Boston is finally digging that green line extension!
Absolutely. I'm sure that traffic would be even worse without it having been done. Certainly getting to the airport is more straightforward than it used to be. But the green spaces are such a huge improvement over traversing the dirty underbelly of the elevated road to get between parts of the city.
(Now if they could only tear down City Hall and do something useful with the space.)
Only twice the over run is not bad these days. Nuclear is a fantastic idea on paper. Then that paper gets shredded.
"In the United States, the cost of Georgia Power’s newest twin Vogtle reactors may top initial estimates of $14 billion and reach $21 billion, according to recent Georgia Public Service Commission testimony. Of course, the first two Vogtle Units begun in 1971 took 18 years to build (a decade over schedule) at a final price of $9 billion — ten times the original price tag. BloombergBusiness wrote last fall, “Even as sympathetic an observer as John Rowe [former chair of the U.S.’s largest nuclear utility] warns that the new units at Vogtle will be uneconomical when — or if — they’re completed.”
And New York, where the Second Avenue subway cost 5-7x as much per mile as systems in London or Paris. And DC, where a well funded Metro system had to be taken into federal oversight because deferred maintenance caused it to kill people.
In California it is caused by enabling local municipalities to have a say and pretending you will ever get a consensus, instead of just saying "hey, we are the state, we're doin it, tough crap".
(the NIMBY lawsuits part is separate from this)
That failure mode definitely exists in other states.
This. Looking at the route through the SF peninsula, it seemed like every other city wanted a completely different system. Palo Alto wants a trench! Menlo Park wants it elevated! Burlingame wants it at grade! Hell, the damn thing would have had more hills than a rollercoaster.
Exactly what LA dealt with regarding the expo line. Parts are elevated through LA past USC and you zip through with a beautiful view of the hills, then back at grade in santa monica and the train has to sit in traffic because it doesn't have priority. The purple line extension almost didn't happen because the brilliant citizen-scientists of beverly hills were convinced there would be too much underground vibration or the city would explode or something, hard to say what particular grievance they are on these days.
This is distinctly a CA problem.