Tuesday, March 15, 2005

The beginning of the end for the Big Dig

Me in November 2004: “Despite Massachusetts officials’ strong protestations to the contrary, I’m starting to believe that it’s only a matter of time before the Big Dig is closed down as a safety hazard. Give it a couple years of band-aid measures and bureaucratic delusion.”

Today’s Boston Globe – Doubt aired on safety of I-93 tunnels: “The engineering specialist who led the investigation into leaks in the Big Dig says he can no longer say with confidence that the Interstate 93 tunnels are safe to drive in, according to a letter obtained by the Globe.”

That’s $15 billion of your money, America.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

'cannot express confidence' in this case is only shorthand for 'I have not been given access to the documents I want'.

Story says he has been denied access to reference documents regarding the new leaks, therefore, he cannot express an opinion on the tunnel.

So the Globe takes this to mean the tunnels are unsafe. No bias there!

N.E. Republican said...

And why won't they give him the documents Tym? They hired him, then they stonewall him. Seems fishy to me. Heck, they are probably shredding documents as you read this.

Anonymous said...

N.E.: the internal squabbles of the BigDig & it's consultants are not so much the point of my first comment: I was driving at the point that the consultant was unable to form an opinion of the safety of the tunnels due to lack of information. However, the MSM chose to report this - AND spin his public statements - to suggest unsafe tunnels. When that was NOT what he said.

Lots of things fishy about this - how often do normal people/businesses complete a construction project, THEN proceed to try to exhort money back from the contractor? very simplified, and ignoring the very real problems associated with the BigDig.

Seems to me the state is attempting to COVER UP it's ineptitute with running a major infrastructure project. Whyever didn't they keep tabs on the contractor(s) DURING the project?

N.E. Republican said...

The main problem is that the turnpike authority doesn't seem to be accountable to anyone. Romney has been trying to put it under the highway department since he became governor. Not surprisingly, the legislature, who has a lot of friends and family working for the turnpike, refuses to do that.