Boston's Big Dig tunnels were nearly complete when leaks, delays and a needless death occurred
Vložit
- čas přidán 7. 11. 2023
- All along, we knew the Big Dig was expensive. We know there were some slip-ups, that there was some wasted money, but we could still hope that at least the money was being spent on a job well done, built to last. It wasn't until the tunnels were virtually complete, that their flaws became clear - causing disruption, distrust, and in one case, a needless death. At that point, the question of responsibility over the project took on a whole new meaning..
This is the eighth in a nine-part podcast series about history and politics of the Big Dig - one of the most notoriously troubled infrastructure projects in American history. It was created as an audio experience. This presentation includes archival images.
Episode 1: • The Big Dig began with...
Episode 2: • How two competing tunn...
Episode 3: • How Boston's Big Dig s...
Episode 4: • Here's why Boston's be...
Episode 5: • It took a feat of engi...
Episode 6: • Here's how billions of...
Episode 7: • How a power struggle o...
Episode 9: • The Big Dig transforme...
You can find more about The Big Dig podcast at www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big...
GBH News is a premier source for in-depth local news and original story telling based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Subscribe to the GBH CZcams channel: czcams.com/users/gbhnews?sub...
Follow GBH News on Instagram: / gbhnews
Follow GBH News on Facebook: / gbhnews
Folllow GBH News on X: / gbhnews
We can’t do it without you. Support our award-winning community journalism by donating today: bit.ly/SupportGBHNews
Hey Big Dig Podcast listeners! Would you be interested in seeing extra archival source material from the time of the Big Dig? Let us know:
I'm GAME 🤔
A Corporation is a Legal Person, as a "person" a Corporation is a Psychopath. We are morons to trust Psychopaths. Municipal Government is a Corporation.
When Benito Mussolini (WW2 Italian fascist dictator) was asked; "What is Fascism?" he replied; "Corporatism." The Eagle on Mussolini's hat is a symbol for Lucifer, same for the Eagle on the back of the Dollar. See; The Corporation (2003)
Yes.
Oh yes please
I do not want this amazing series to end. Hats off to everyone involved.
Same. These works are so few and far between ❤
We are so glad you're enjoying it! Thank you!
This series will continue . . . as potential FAILURES mature ! 😬 🇺🇲 👎
*hard hats off*
Twenty years later people forget that the 'Boston Harbor Cleanup' was occurring in the same time-frame as the 'Big Dig'; ICF Kaiser (Construction Manager) and Metcalf & Eddy (Lead Design Engineer) basically served the same functions, respectively, on the former undertaking as Bechtel and Parsons-Brinckerhoff served on the latter. As an engineer for a design firm that had subcontracts for both efforts, I worked on both projects, and was able to observe firsthand the contrast in how both projects were managed by the CMs. ICF Kaiser was incentivized to control costs, and the Boston Harbor Cleanup stands as a shining example of a major public works project that came in under budget. In contrast, the more costs the Big Dig incurred, the more profit Bechtel made. I certainly hope the creators of this series will produce an episode that compares these two projects to shed further light on the principal role that Bechtel's corporate culture (secrecy, greed, and the purchasing of political influence) played in the cost overruns, inefficiencies, and quality control lapses of the Big Dig.
it was one of the biggest financial scams to ever hit the city. What mayor set it in motion? who was governor then?
Let's simplify by saying the tunel failed somewhat because it was build the american way ? I've never understood the kind of contracts that say "deliver me xyz before that date" or you gonna have to pay x millions penalties a day etc. Especially when the xyz refer to a very complex product as a major infrastuctur project, a new airplane project, etc. maybe that is part of the problem here also.
Another excellent episode! Outstanding journalism and podcast values. An incisive point of view but still even-handed treatment of those involved.
This has been an excellent series so far. I hope GBH will do a segment on the related work for the north-south rail link (whose ground work was completed as part of the Big Dig) and commuter rail modernization, which the the MBTA is roundly failing to do promptly. We NEED good government with the capacity and capability to manage large public works projects.
That sounds appropriate and interesting.
Suggest the subtitle to be: "doomed from the start"; merely collect some Alan Altshuler quotes over the years and one will find out way.
I can't believe how interesting this is. I have been anticipating each Wednesday for another episode. Great job!
Same here 👍
Dare we say Wednesday is the best day of the week? 😏 Thanks for watching!
My weekly fix of big dig history
I laughed at the engineers tasting the water to see if it was sea water or fresh, since I did the exact same thing on inspecting some leaks in the plenums of the Ted Williams tunnel. After the collapse of the panels a bunch of NE firms brought in engineers from all over to inspect the roofs on all the tunnels, so I spent a summer inspecting a lot of construction. There were so many plan sheets between different segments it was a real challenge to keep what was going where straight. I remember tracking down a bunch of leaks that were coming through the conduits holding the fiber optic to Logan that needed to be rerouted. What looked like poop stains on the walls were the remains of conduits that shouldn't have been exposed to sea water. Good times.
with how well these are doing on youtube I might recommend pivoting from a podcast with purely stock footage to a semi documentary style splicing in more interview footage tbh, The visuals add so much and are so interesting to watch if you do any more similar series in the future
This was old WGBH segment footage. What you're suggesting is wayyyy more expensive to realistically produce.
A huge thank you to the team at WGBH and Ian Causs for creating this truly needed story on the Big Dig. I found this show when it was on it's third episode, and I have been looking forward to Wednesday afternoons ever since. Ian, please make more series on Boston public infrastructure, it is such an interesting facet of This beautiful city's character. God bless all of you.
Thank you so much! We're glad you're enjoying the series. More to come!
You have presented the story of this massive project in such an interesting way. I look forward to these podcasts each week. Thank you
Some scary stuff for me in the 2006 accident that killed Milena Del Valle. 6 hours prior to that accident, I'd driven under that area, same lane. In my 2001 Chrysler Sebring Convertible. Top down of course, because it was July 10th and I was headed to some friends place for dinner. Things like this make you think about things....if those roof panels had given way while I was under it? The car would have been completely crushed, similar to the 1991 Regal. Words can't express my luck here and sorrow for Milena. I still have the 2001 Sebring Convertible.
SoNH person here. This is super interesting. The countless times I've driven people to logan, taking for granted the tunnels and how the flip these were actually built. 2004, i was like 9 years old so this wasn't a thing i saw live. very cool, whoever worked on this project honestly, big or small, definitely deserves a medal
The company and management didn't make mistakes. They made choices...
Great work , my hats off to GBH.
I had heard the epoxy used was a quick set type, instead of the specified slow cure version. It was substituted due to supply issues with the original formula and/or it was done for scheduling reasons.
This is how it was relayed to me from a QC tester. They also said it failed pull tests often and the project leadership wasn’t willing to rework anything so it would just get tested until it passed the tests. This retest until it passed was also done with the concrete slump and strength tests.
Im still using igloo arctic coolers purchased for sample transportation from the big dig. They keep ice for a week even being opened regularly for beverages.
Captivating is the word for this podcast. Thank you for all the hard work making this. As someone who grew up with the Big Dig, so much of this was unknown to me.
It's so haunting to know that the couple were just seconds from leaving the tunnel when her life was cut short.
I hope that everyone working in construction or frankly any field (food service, medicine, etc.) constantly acknowledge that there are life and death decisions being made and cutting corners to save a buck or just get the job done aren't worth the loss of someone's life.
Great series. I hope to see more like this.
This has been such a great ride. Thankyou for all the time and effort put into this mega project
This episode was so frickin awesome. Great journalism work! Thank you!!!!
Another Banger by GBH !! TY much
I have never been to the US, but I have seen couple of documentaries about the Big Dig. This podcast is just fantastic.
I was there in 1987 and the tunnel leaked a lot, most ventilation off and smoggy, steel bridges with six inch diameter rusted holes, and it is a whole different world culturally, like people's surprise that you own a vehicle. The Channel bar / nightclub was the best I found, suppose to be where the tea was dumped.
Seeing others here is a great way of finding people with similar minds, because let’s face it, not everyone we know was waiting for the latest podcast episode of the big dig to drop :)
I’ve been craving a new episode. I’m so fascinated by the big dig
@@WoodT92 no doubt. The cherry on top for me is that it’s such a relaxing production style to listen to. Not in a way that softens the seriousness of the topic either.
@@chrisvazquez4291 fax. You get the seriousness of all that happened during those times
I will never forget the day I was driving home and water was pouring into the northbound 93 tunnel through a leak. It was scary.
Continue to love this series! Job well done to the team at GBH who puts this together!!!
Right on. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!
one time i was tired driving through boston at 3am and a pool of water in the tunnel looked like a big hole in the ground, it scared the crap out of me until I realized “oh it’s just a reflection on the water”
I forgot about all of the Shady stuff that went on with this project, Wonderful job, thanks for this series.
This guy is a brilliant interviewer.
What a great watch! Thanks!
Surreal seeing the airplane look so big at 19:33.
At one of the progress briefings down at 10 Park Plaza, they were discussing the naming of the new tunnel. I suggested naming it after a renown archaeologist who by digging down, discovered the unknown; Dr. Louis Leakey.
first of the series i watched ... wow talk about getting away with everything ... il have to go back and watch 1 to 7
Did the Lawyers get a 3rd?
Joking. From someone that misses Boston deeply, that didn’t have to live thru the pain of the project, I only got to take my children to the area that is now a park and say, “I remember when the traffic was so loud. The silence is beautiful. It was worth it. Great job on this piece GBH.
Excellent episode. Cudoes!
I read a book a few years about Three Mile Island and how it was supposed to be built in New Jersey but the operator got permission from the NRC to relocate the plant to PA because a local Union official demanded 1% of the total cost of the project to "ensure there are no labor problems". Ever since then, I always assume that these huge projects have these costs buried in there somewhere.. one way or the other. It's ironic that concrete is the issue: supposedly in Philadelphia union ships have a priority on obtaining concrete.. non-union work gets concrete only after the union jobs orders are satisfied.
Unions are a plague to the general public
It's a bit on the lenghty side and unusual now on the fast delivered fast digested information era but surprisingly good. Before anything else I was captivated by the clear voice of the narrator and the robustness of it's storytelling.
25:20 THERE IT IS. The first time that, despite being a teenager, I had to ask my dad "Um...What happened with the Big Dig?" And I didn't like the answer...
I visited Boston during the big dig and that was years ago and there was talks about this out in the public
Episode 7 - We don't want to hear from the Turnpike Board and we have the muscle. Episode 8 - Oooopsie! We goofed.
You’d be great for RadioLab! I’m really enjoying this series, thank you! Go Sox
I love the ratios on these vids
We slump test every single truck or batch lode. In addition, we fill a couple 6" pvc pipes (capped at bottom), for testing and or future forensic analysis in case of a failure.
I used to do concrete testing, and I can tell you there's nothing worse than a large pour going bad.
38:50 . . . Photo of Harvard University Stadium, with backdrop of Boston to the north . . . memories 🧐
WOW! My mouth dropped when Ian reported that epoxy was used to hold those massive slabs of concrete! Just...................,why!? SMDH!
Good friend of mine from mass highway was paid double to to,work third shift supervising and signing off on the rehanging of the Ted Williams ceiling panels. Originally only epoxy was used second time rivets
Scary stuff. Wow
You're too good of a person. These companies and the related bureaucrats they so fervently lobby for know exactly what they are doing. Profits over ppl always. The settlement is chump change compared to the money they made, the money they will make, and the palms they will continue to grease to keep their coffers stockpiled. And if the companies go under, they served their intended purpose. That of a sacrificial husk, where the acting parties can go on to do the same under a new entity.
I love the political background, but would love to really get into the technical issues, which on this project were incredibly complex
I'm the same age as the narrator, it seems, and this is the chapter where I started paying attention to the news, so this is the bit that I'm actually starting to remember, beyond vague memories of driving on the elevated Central Artery on the occasional family trip to the Aquarium or the Museum of Science, or something.
2:50 A lot? That's INSANE! I work for a CVS call center and not only do they not mandate overtime (Though they DO sometimes HEAVILY IMPLY WE SHOULD DO IT...A few weeks a year. But even then THEY FORBID US FROM GOING OVER 60 HOURS (I had 72 planned once 3 days on a break Weds and 3 more but they denied me working Saturday so I only got 60...And that was VOLUNTARY) so I can only IMAGINE what the 40/40 club faced...(I can never do overtime again now because I'm on third shift and they LITERALLY NEVER need it. I started two hours early ONCE and THAT WAS IT)
They did the same with the cables on bridges in NYC wire didn’t meet specs they drove loads around the back of plants to get new passing tickets for rejected loads.
Nyc is corrupt to the bones
I remember seeing this - materials, one year back. Story may continue far into the Future . . . as POTENTIAL FAILURES mature !
I used to work for a third party testing company. I sure don't miss those 80+ hour work weeks.
I am an Uber driver. I remember Malaina everytime I drive to the airport. Sometimes I mention her name out loud and tell my rider about her.
Site supervisors are responsible to check and test every batch of cement. Period!
What if the supplier trick the test as explained in this doc ?
I work in construction as a sprinkler fitter, much much smaller projects than this. We can't even get 3D coordinated prints where we're not running into other trades... I'm amazed at just how well they did on this job!
Still, there was no reason that they should have been any back and forth over whether or not the state was going to pay for the repairs on these leaks. The state and by extension the taxpayers with a customer here and we're entitled to a complete and finished product without any additional out-of-pocket expense.
i request another 100 episodes please
the podcaster tries to lead the prosecutor to say that he made the decision on Bechtel on his own, but if you will notice he did not say that. he said he understood what his bosses back in dc wanted by what they declined to approve.and he complied with that.
The common person would never hang concrete ceiling tiles let alone with epoxy. Inexcusable. Bad design, bad approval and bad execution.
If you think Aggregate was the only company cutting corners , you are delusional. There are construction workers who to this day tell their family members not to travel through the tunnels.
We just wanted a tunnel, what we got was a tunnel, and an epic lesson in civil engineering. This is why we, the tax payers, use the word "accountable".
The biggest injustice is when companies push forward with their "good intentions " and just too big to put down when rushing work with indifference to safety that they stress to us so much.
"The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions."
Never understood the rationale for hanging heavy ass panels from the ceiling. WTF?
Those people who knew and were responsible for the bad concert going into this or any other job should spend time in prison.
It's nice that after 16 years of blood, sweat, and tears they were finally able to get the huge gorilla off their back and hold it accountable for its failures in the oversight of this massive project. However, it doesn't take away the pain and sorrow of that fatality.
100 trucks an hour? That’s billions of dollars
Companies should pay after not hiring a second and 3rd shifts to keep workers more alert.
Thats what screwed USA on covid crisis hospitals fired one whole shift to save money on more employee benefits putting remaining 2 shifts on 12 hr shifts with no one to cover overtime for weeks.
concrete slabs hanging in the roo!? why not a lighter material?
We see it again and again; if a corporation is big enough then its criminal negligence comes down to a payout and a bit of bad publicity. Construction; transport; health care; chemical industry; food products. All the same.
The company should have been disbarred from federal work. In the end money is power.
It's common sense you don't hang slabs of concrete with epoxy holding it.
They needed steel beams coming from the ground up to support it.
Salvucci has blood on his hands 🩸
corruption, kickbacks, unions, a-lot to go wrong here...
When I read Boston, I knew it'd be grift/graft.
They.. tasted that water?!
Yeah, I guess they love that dirty water!
The project was certainly ambitious, over-ambitious in reality, but if that question was ever seriously asked I’m unsure. It cost a tremendous sum, and for years that was the main thing the media wanted to focus on because it was a Scary Big Number, along with who to blame. It sounds like the final episode of the series will try to answer whether it was worth the cost. As for handing out blame, certainly the crooked aggregates cement supplier needed to be hung, whoever was responsible for the epoxy failure in the tunnel leading to a death, and whatever fudging of the bills Bechtel may have attempted certainly should be called out. But the scale and scope of this, doing so much that had never been tried before, should be celebrated, not criticized. It is audaciously bold, and mostly good, especially compared to what was there before.
You are failing to tell the real truth. It’s a culture created by the Bectels and the Peter Kiewitts and others. The corporate culture is get the job done as quickly and cheaply as possible. Because we get to keep everything left over. They never have to say it out loud. They set near impossible goals for their project managers and they reward them handsomely. Very handsomely. They wear gold and diamond rings and Rolex’s. So the Project managers do whatever they have to do to get the job done so they can move on to the next. Finish this one, start the next. The next bonus.
The company never has to tell them directly to do sloppy work. It is implied anything goes just get the job done, under budget, under the time line and get your bonus or find another job. It’s the culture and it will not change. Banning them from government contracts is the only punishment they feel.
well we all want something
I think you’ve missed the point and the Feds, State and the City dropped the ball on this project. Bechtel is a proven company with a track record of great achievements. However, they needed to work in an environment that let them do their job. All levels government were aware of the high level of corruption in Boston and the involvement of organized crime in all aspects of construction. It was the responsibility of government entities to ensure a safe, honest and ethical work environment and to provide oversight, protection and policing. They didn’t do their jobs and instead blamed Bechtel who had an impossible mandate, given where and with whom they had to work.
And who forced the 1090 cement tricks to be applied on a large scale ? Was it the governement maybe ?
There’s the Bechtel fanboi
Yeah, you really showed Bechtel. They had revenue of 17.6 Billion last year. In the top 20 in the Fortune 500 companies. 😂😂😂
Nice hit piece , they are still doing contract work for the U.S. govt. but you still feel good though, right.
Bechtel still laughs around the boardroom when you mention Boston .😂😂😂
if i see this series... why dont we work more together with the americans in public television?
Where are you from?
Germany
i think there were bad intentions, carried out.
It also would be great to give other companies a chance, it seems to me it would be more competitive, gives the state also more control.. “its still tax money and citizens at stack” that should be concern, also find it very shameful, and amateurism for being the great system, but seems so poorly done.. example: safety lanes, safety lights, something modern for me it gives a very creepy look.. in my eyes this smells like maffia type crimes.. but that is common in America.. its not about making America the future, or showing its got a real style, futuristic and such.. very sad
7:13 "A future 2-term first African-American president". Yes he is correct hope is...
7:35 OH COME ON!!!
I understand that you don’t want to take sides on the success or failure of the construction. But, a woman did lose her life. And there is no scarier sight for a driver in a tunnel than water gushing in at a tremendous rate. Lucky there were no accidents from that incident. Countries around the world build tunnels under rivers and seas without the issues experienced by this project. So to me, corners were cut, plain and simple. And that to me says failure from the federal government, state government, city government, and the contractors.
This is so common for Boston unions mobster hacks
All of New England is known for their shotty work
Hot loads!
Romney probably deceived both sides and made monetary gains. Sounds like a Chris Christy play.
thats what happens when you dont TEST concrete!
Sounds like china?
Why didn't you name who the Clintons lawyer was???
Obama was such a let down
Your banners on the left side are really distracting. Not only that, but you use the same 40 or so video clips throughout. Lazy editing and compilation.
So the Bottom Line is Elevated Highways = BAD... Big Dig = UNDER-ground highway = GOOD... ditto TRAINS... subways...
GET Digging... maybe put some Underground Buildings down there as Well??? NO Windows... you cant open them anyway
I really hope that won't be all they present in the epilogue...
(Because no, underground car infra is still way worse than literally any of the alternatives)
Don’t give the corrupt democrats any new ideas!