I don't know how much people who aren't in the north eastern US know about the Big Dig, but we're all paying for it.

If you don't know, the Big Dig is a tunnel system through Boston, MA. I don't live in or near Boston but visit on occasion. At one point, not too long ago there were highways running through downtown Boston. Now most of the highways are underground. Pretty common these days I guess.

This project has been going on for twenty years and has been laiden with corruption. The price tag has skyrocketed and come to find out, there are flaws in the construction. Many flaws. In fact, on Monday of this week a woman was killed when the car that she was a passenger in was crushed by concrete ceiling pannels that had fallen from the ceiling.

Boston is only a small part of what makes up Massachusetts, contrary to what people in Boston may think. This Big Dig only benefits a small number of people in comparison to the number of people in the state and sorrounding states. Even though that is the case, all the taxpayers foot this bill for this tunnel project gone bad. And so are you, all the people in all the other states, because a large portion of the funding is from federal funding.

There were short cuts made in the construction of this tunnel system. There are many leaks. Some big leaks. There are parts falling off, crushing cars, killing someone. Almost fifteen billion dollars for a project that was supposed to be less that half that. Where did all that money go? I guess that's where this gets political.

Follow the money.

We've all been ripped off. Not only that but this could also turn into one of the countries big man made disasters.

So, anyone have any thoughts on the Big Dig?

 

My Thoughts:

It was a huge mess that took wy too long, there was massive amounts of fraud and skimming going on and I'm ashamed that I have to answer people when they ask "So whats the deal with the big dig" I usually sy I know nothing about it.

Im sure Kenedy got paid well out of it somehow, he always does!!!!!

 

Since I am a civil engineer....it always pains me to see such tragic events happen both on the project management side of construction and when the health, safety or welfare of the public is endangered.....all of which happened on the "Big Dig"......I truely hope that the money trail is followed and those who are responsible are held accountable.....

 

see the picture on the front page of the herald this am??

taken with a cell phone camera just as the panel crushed the car!!!

30 tons of concrete falling from the sky = MAJOR LAWSUIT

the job has been a joke since the start...

1987.."it will only cost 2.5 billion..."

2006..14.7 billion and still counting

and amorello is the biggest jackass in the world...

...zap!

 

typical results from government projects.

 

This isn't some old tunnel. It's basicly new. What's next?

One thing for certian is they are going to have to keep dumping BIG $$$$$$$$ to deal with all the issues. It's fifteen billion now. How much more to fix all the stuff that's been screwed up?

 

Found this on CNN. 12,000 tons of concrete fell on her. Unbelievable.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/12/big....ap/index.html

 

Well at least Kennedy’s friends all got RICH…

 

Its all a big joke but in reality it just goes to show us that America continues to flounder big time. We just cannot seem to do anything right any longer and it will be our demise in the long run. The all mighty dollar is king, queen and president. From new Orleans to Boston it just continues to steam roll out of control. Hurricane season is now here and where are they with the leaves in N.O. ??? mm yeah no where. They have been deciding here in buffalo to build a new bridge to Canada for 20 ****** years and they still can't make a decision, its a simple bridge come on, the old one may fall soon and kill huge numbers of people but the all mighty dollar wins out once again... America land of the ..........??


Whew... I had to stop i was getting somewhat dizzy....

 

They knew in 1999 that there was a problem with the anchoring system on the concrete ceiling tiles. But like the front page of the Boston Herald says, they said it was safe.

I don't think this is an Americn blunder. This one falls square on the state government right here in Massachusetts. For many years and through several adminstrations, people continued to look the other way as someone else lined their pockets. I find this highly offensive as a Massachusetts tax payer. Considering there were federal funds used also, everyone should be offended that law makers, other government employees, and contractors worked together to rip us all off AND construct an inferior tunnel system. Now innocent people are paying the consequences.

 

I thought it was odd that even before the first truck of concrete was moved they were already saying "homicide charges" Putting people in jail, firing top officials. I now see why, there have been some just waiting for this to happen because of the burden it has been. heck of a thing to happen just so somebody can say "told ya so"

 

read all about it here


www.bostonherald.com


...zap!

 

As a civil engineer I feel I have to put my 2 cents in here. I read a couple of articles in the Boston Herald today. These concrete pieces in the ceiling of the tunnel are purely for aesthetics. It's a glorified drop ceiling, like the ceilings in every generic office building. Anyways the put the false ceiling in to cover up the actual structure of the tunnel and these gigantic fans that bring fresh air into the tunnel. The concrete panels help channel some of the fresh air also.

These fans can generate hurricane force winds when turned on full blast (in the event of a fire for example). Metal panels would have required a lot of bracing because they're not very stiff, they would deflect from the fans. So concrete panels were chosen because they wouldn't deform from the force the fans generate.

The official from the Turnpike authority said they could take all the panels down and reopen the tunnel. I don't see why the drop ceiling was needed in the first place. This seems like an architectual related problem, ie making it look pretty causes more problems.

 

Isn't it supposed to be "form follows function"?

The concrete pannels don't even really need to be there. Though concrete seems like the simplest solution to channeling the air, an alternative solution could have been reached. I'm not even close to being an engineer but I know damn well that an engineer could come up with a design that utilized lighter strong materials,fastened in such a way that they wouldn't deflect from the air movement, and that was not likely to kill someone.

Not only were the concrete pannels a poor design choice, they were also not installed properly. There were issues in the early stages of installing the hangers. It required them to remove a bunch of hangers and reinstall larger ones. Appearently there was a problem redrilling the holes and they had to use epoxy to get the new hangers to stay in place. It's one thing if we do this in our house or something, but on a 14.7 billion tunnel system?

This tunnel system just opened. It's already riddled with errors. It appears that this could be the beginning of a lifetime of dealing with the short comings of this construction project. But hey, it's only tax payers dollars. Our dollars. I don't like it. Not one bit. 14.7 and [rapidly] counting.

 

Isn't it interesting that the majority of past "engineering failures" were due to architectual related problems?.......why is it that the human eye has a hard time seeing the beauty of engineering.....why is it that architecture has to be incorporated?.......don't get me wrong, I am sensitive to how a structure "looks"......but there needs to be restraint.......



........the wonderful Engineer vs. Architect debate.....gotta love it......