The Big Dig

03/07/2016
Brett Crews, Christian Stevenson, Aaron Birch, Ben Granberry, Jordan Thayer

Table of Contents
Pg. 1

Table of contents

Pg. 2

Purpose

Pg. 3

Budget

Pg. 4

Transportation

Pg. 6

Structural

Pg. 9

Geotechnical

Pg. 11

Water Resources

Pg. 12

Conclusion

Pg. 15

References

Introduction
The Big Dig was a project that was to be a solution to Bostons world-class traffic
problem, the Central Artery. The Central Artery was the highway system opened in 1959.
When it opened it was only getting about 75,000 cars a day making a comfortable drive. By the
time 2010 rolled around the six-lane highway running straight through downtown was carrying
over 200,000 cars and had traffic jams for a grueling 16 hours a day. This caused a higher
accident rate, and huge waste of money. The City of Boston was separated keeping the North
End from the economic life of the city. The solution to this lied in an underground expressway
freeing up 29 acres of land in Boston and a more efficient transportation system.
The City needed an interstate with more lanes more capable of the traffic flow possible
and allow more space and become more congregated as a whole city. This required the old
interstate to get demolished for the space and bringing the city together. Instead of a surface level
highway a subterranean level highway was built with 10 lanes along with a 14 lane bridge at the
north end [1]. This was built for the accommodation of 245,000 vehicles each day. These
changes accounted for better flow of traffic and a less divided city, even more together with the
extra 29 acres [4]. The Big Dig benefited many people whether stuck in the traffic or living in an
area that now had more access to its surroundings.
The majority of those affected saw positive outcomes however there were hitches in the
project. Overall, the project allowed for a much better flow of traffic cutting commuters time
down and reducing traffic. This also positively benefited the pollution from cars on the road per
hour increasing the health of the whole city. Much of the negative effect was caused by the fiscal
plan and the shoddy and long construction work. Traffic during construction was at an all time

high and seized up many roads. It also went over budget causing debt for Boston. This projected
affected many whether it was traffic loads, environmental impact, or much fiscal budget and
construction.

Budget
The original cost plan of the big dig was a reasonable cost for such a project, however
upon completion the project costed an outstanding amount.The original proposal of cost was 2.4
billion dollars however once the project was completed it costed a booming 14 billion however
with interest on investments that will not be payed of till 2038 it could cost up to 24 billion
dollars [5]. This angered many taxpayers along especially once the facts showed that the
contractors were paid depending on cost of the project. As the project cost more the pay check to
the contractors grew as well. This project left the city in debt however now there is not nearly as
much traffic as before the big dig project. Whether the cost was worth it is hard to put in quantity
because it is reduced traffic verses dollars.

Transportation
The Big Dig, more formally known as the Central Artery/Tunnel project, was primarily a
transportation-engineering project. The main goal of the entire project was to improve the
transportation problems in downtown Boston, Massachusetts.
To reiterate the idea of how terrible the existing roadway was the Massachusetts
Department of Transportation described the elevated Central Artery (Interstate 93) as an old
transportation system and was not built to handle the immense traffic of Boston. As a result,
central Boston was subjected to traffic jams for more than 10 hours a day [4]. The original

highway was a transportation disaster, and needed extreme renovations to satisfy the needs of a
large Boston community.
In an attempt to improve the overflow of drivers was through the project The Big Dig.
The main goal was to replace the existing elevated highway with a system of underground
highway tunnels and two bridges, a total of fourteen lanes, which would cross the Charles River
at the northern end of the project. The more lanes added would be able to carry the high level of
drivers.
One of the main projects of the big dig was the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. It
is the widest cable-stayed bridge in the world and is a hybrid and asymmetrical design, using
both steel (in the main span) and concrete (in the back spans). It has a total of ten lanes, half
northbound and half southbound on Interstate 93. The total length of the bridge totaled 1,432 feet
long. The main idea behind making a cable-stayed bridge is that the columns become the major
load bearing parts of the structure instead of the ground like a suspension bridge. One unique
structural component of the bridge was the asymmetrical property of the weight bearing towers.
They have differing heights of 322 feet and 295 feet to allow an easier transition from roadway
to underground tunnel [7]. This type of bridge is much more rigid than a suspension bridge and
doesnt deform easily under live loads. Also, it is fairly easy to build because the deck of the
bridge can be constructed by cantilevering out from each vertical column. The cables used to
hold the bridge up will act as temporary, and permanent, supports for the bridge deck.
The highway, Interstate 93, was totally destroyed and rebuilt underground. By building
the highway under the city, long distance travelers get to bypass the metropolitan city. Surface
streets were created to connect the surface city to the underground highway. The original

elevated highway had a total of twenty-seven ramps [7]. Under the new construction the number
of ramps was decreased to fourteen to the surface. By reducing the amount of on/off ramps to the
highway, the amount of cars getting on to the highway will be slower and the fewer ramps will
act as a funnel to slow the influx of drivers on the highway.
Overall, the transportation changes that were made created huge impacts on the traffic in
Boston. The traffic has been diverted with an effective plan. Congestion rates are still high, but
thats due to the immediate surrounding metropolitan area. The idea of placing the faster transit
under the city was initially a fantastic idea. Instead of the elevated highway being travelled by
everyone in Boston it would be primarily used by individuals travelling longer distances. One
big downside to this transportation renovation was its overall cost. The total process of
constructing two bridges, underground excavation, and the creation of new road over several
years amounted extremely high costs, approximately ten billion dollars. In addition the timeline
for the project was also very poorly maintained. The total process began in 1982 and wasnt
completely over until 2007, a total of twenty-five years. These numbers are not acceptable
because the projected ending date was 1996 and the budget was 2.8 million dollars. The project
became too big of a task and became an inefficient project very fast. By surpassing its budget
and timeline it has become a bittersweet project.

Structural Engineering
Being one of the largest road infrastructure improvements ever undertaken by the United
States, a great deal of planning and design went into its making. From concept to completion this
project took years to finish and cost billions of dollars. This is largely due to the massive scope

of the Big Dig, but also in part to the enormous amount of structural engineering involved. The
structural engineering aspect of this project comes into play mainly when looking at the materials
used in each section, and the column support system used throughout it all. Each individual part
of this grandeur piece of infrastructure was meticulously designed, but even after such a long
enterprise of design many problems have still arisen. These problems almost entirely come from
faults in the structural engineering design. While the Big Dig may be a miraculous engineering
achievement, it is not perfect in any way.
As with most structural design, the Big Dig used mainly steel and concrete to construct
almost every single part. By the end of the project, 3.8 million cubic yards of concrete were used
along with enough steel reinforcement to wrap all the way around the world [3]. The reason
concrete and steel were used over other materials is due to their high compressive strength. Both
of these materials can hold a significant amount of weight without breaking. Steel even has a
very high tensile strength allowing it to hold even larger loads. The Ted Williams underwater
tunnel portion of the project was built using steel tubes that were three hundred meters long, and
forty meters in diameter. They employed the cut and cover method of tunneling in which a
trench was excavated on the sea floor, then steel supports were placed in the trench, and the steel
tube was lowered to the bottom [2]. Air ventilation pipes were also placed in as necessary. The
cut and cover method is a fairly common practice in tunneling, and is the main reason that the

Ted Williams tunnel is the only section of the Big Dig that was completed on time and within
budget.
The rest of the project was much more difficult to complete due to the complicated
engineering methods that need to be employed. The other underwater tunnel in the Big Dig runs
through the fort point channel, which caused a great amount of complications. Due to the lack of
room in the channel they were unable to use the steel tube design of the Ted Williams tunnel.
Instead they were forced to use concrete tunnel sections [2]. This a much more challenging
method of tunneling, and in fact it was the first time this method had ever been used in the
United States. The other problem the engineers faced was that the Redline subway tunnels ran
through the bottom of the channel, so the new tunnel could not be lowered into any excavated
trench. To go around this the engineers designed massive support columns in order to elevate the
tunnel above the Redline. All of these tunnels were expected to hold massive loads on a daily
basis. Engineers had to consider all possible loads, both live and dead when designing these
tunnels. To support these hefty loads, steel supports were often used in pairs in order to distribute
the load more evenly [3]. Also all of the concrete had a high amount of steel reinforcement in
them in order to prevent any bending moments. Everything used had to be water tight as well.
While all of the tunnels were designed to last several decades, many of them have had
excessive problems especially in the form of leaks and concaves. The construction of the Big Dig

was actually highly controversial. In order to save money and time, subpar materials were often
used and construction was done in a quick and haphazard manner. For instance, contractors often
forgot to remove gravel and debris before pouring the concrete [1]. This comprises the structural
integrity of the concrete because it creates pressure points within the concrete and leads to
excessive cracking. This along with unacceptable materials actually caused a ceiling collapse
leading to a fatal accident. One of the most challenging things when designing and constructing
such large scale projects such as this one is staying within budget and on time. When these fail
mistakes often occur, and in the world engineering there is very little room for mistakes because
one small flaw can lead to the destruction of an entire project.

Geotechnical Engineering
As the project went underway, it was apparent that moving dirt would play a huge role
during the entire process. Through this issue of geotechnical engineering, the project (originally
named the Central Artery/Tunnel Project) received its nickname, the Big Dig. Engineers and
planners knew at the start of the project that they would need to move millions of cubic yards of
dirt in order to get this project underway. So as the project began, so did the transport of dirt and
debris. By the end of the project, more than 16 million cubic yards of dirt [10] had to be removed
from the project area in order to construct the highway and tunnel. To put that into perspective, it
take one million cubic yards to fill up a typical football stadium. In order to move this massive

amount of soil, trucks continuously loaded and transported the dirt to other areas. Around
541,000 truckloads later they were finished moving the soil that needed to be displaced.
With this sheer amount of dirt, engineers had to figure out an idea of where to move all of
it. Since there was such a large quantity, they could not simply place the dirt wherever so the
project managers decided to move the dirt to different places. The majority of the dirt was sent to
different landfills and helped to cover them. Also done was that the remaining dirt was
transported to Spectacle Island in the Boston Harbor, where an old dump there was covered then
a park was built on top of it [4].
Other than dirt, engineers also had to deal with the massive network of various utility
lines than were spread across the area where the tunnel was to be constructed. They estimated
that around 29 miles of these various lines were unorganized to the point where the engineers
had to do something in order to keep everything neat and to decrease the chance of a break,
which could cause major delays in the project. So, engineers decided to dig into the lines of
reorganize them, which a feat in itself. After the 29 miles of lines were reorganized then the start
of the tunnel could begin.
When constructing the actual tunnel, the project called for the tunnel to built lower than
typical tunnels for highways. Most tunnels are built around 85 feet deep, but the Big Dig was
designed to have the tunnel be around 125 feet into the soil. To do this, workers dug through four

layers of soil. They first dug through the fill layer, which consisted of the landfill Boston was
built on. Next came the organics layer and then the clay layer. Finally, after they dug through the
glacial till layer they reached bedrock and used it as support using a strategy called underpinning
[9]. The tunnel part of the project had many negative as well as positive influences on the
surrounding area.
The geotechnical aspect of the project played a huge influence overall in multiple ways.
Due to the insane quantity of excavation needed, much of the project's tentative due dates were
pushed back once the ground work begun. A lot of this was due to the amount of environmental
problems that were presented when digging up that much soil. Many natural habitats of birds and
small mammals have been destroyed through digging up over 16 million cubic yards of dirt.
Another negative is the leaks that occurred during construction. Instead of clearing gravel and
other dirt, subcontractors poured concrete over it trying to save time. This caused serious leaks to
occur which hindered the project and also created other major problems with the tunnel that
needed to be fixed.
Despite the apparent environmental disaster that the Big Dig seemed to have caused by
construction, there is positive light that emerged after the project was finished. First of all, the
Big Dig has caused a decrease of carbon emissions in the surrounding area. Since traffic has
become smoother, traffic will be less common and therefore less carbon emissions. Another

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positive is Spectacle Island. Already mentioned, Spectacle Islands landfill was capped by
available dirt that was excavated. By capping the landfill, it not only created a park for the island,
but also was more environmentally friendly than the obscenely large amount of trash that freely
polluted the surrounding waters. While the geotechnical engineering aspects of projects may
seem minute and simply just moving around dirt, it in fact is one of the most key factors on if a
project is successful or not. The geotechnical engineering both literally and figuratively is the
base of the project in most cases, and should not be overlooked. Maximum effort should be
administered and to an utmost perfection to make sure the rest of the project goes smoothly.

Water Resources Engineering

Throughout the project Water Resources Engineering was probably the most minimally
used section of Civil Engineering out of the four sections. The main issue regarding water
resources during the course of The Big Dig was how to create a tunnel under the inner Boston
Harbor. Eventually this tunnel would connect the Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate 90) to East
Boston Expressway (MA 1A). To create the nicknamed Ted Williams tunnel, engineer had to use
a process called tunnel jacking which is the construction of a casting basin for immersed tube
tunneling and cut-and-cover tunnel construction [1].
Also starting in 1992, twenty-nine miles of infrastructure lines including water and sewer
pipes had to be relocated to make room for the Central Artery tunnel construction [8]. Otherwise
the project ran the risk of shutting down the operations of Bostons financial district. The project
was successful in avoiding this obstacle as from the years 1996 and 2000, the rate of utility

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damage decreased 86 percent, with cost savings approximated at $50 million [8]. Afterwards
the pipeline infrastructure was updated from a chaotic interface of different utilities to a much
more organized underground infrastructure.
One of the failures of The Big Dig is the leaks that have sprung up in the underground
tunnels. In the years 2013 and 2014 it has been reported that 16 million gallons of water have
leaked into the Tip ONeill and Ted Williams tunnels and the I-90 connector. These leaks are
costing taxpayers millions of dollars every year and according to some the leaks could continue
indefinitely. In 2004 a leak was large enough to force a closure of the Central Artery tunnel so
repairs could occur [1]. There has also been controversy over quantity of leaks. Unlike the
former statement about leaks continuing at the same rate indefinitely, a report by Bechtel/Parsons
Brinckerhoff states the number of leaks is actually decreasing [6].
Overall, The Big Dig was executed fairly well in the Water Engineering sector, even
though it was limited in use. The realignment of the underground infrastructure piping was the
biggest success because it was completed without interrupting the any of the functions of the
city. And the big issue with the leaks will more than likely be solved as soon as possible.

Conclusion
The Big Dig is the most expensive construction project to date. The 24 billion dollars it
will end up costing is a record for US projects. Quantifying whether the project was worth it is
hard because there are so many factors include, price, traffic reduction, environmental impact,
and city impact. A few major points that argue the project isn't worth it would be the cost and the
failures in structure. Positives include the benefit in the environment, the reduced traffic flow,

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and how the city has grown from the project. The evaluation of whether it is worth it or not is
subjective as it is hard to make a perfect quantity of positives and negatives.
The environmental benefit went along with with the city growth from the Big Dig were
major positives. A 12 percent reduction in carbon monoxide city wide was achieved from less
cars stuck in traffic daily. 27 new acres of park was opened up by the destruction on the old
interstate. In the project they opened almost 300 acres of open space total. This also took away
the separation between north and south Boston. This opened up more economic flow in the city.
This created a much more connected city between the connected economic flow and open space
open for community use.
The main downside of the project we found was the major cost of the project in
comparison to the strength and longevity. With the project costing more than 21 billion over
budget, it should not have any major flaw after production. One flaw in the project, based on
poor material and contractor error caused a women to die when a ceiling tile fell. The lack of
responsibility that was put on the contractors should have been increased. The contract the city of
Boston wrote should have been changed. If the contractors were held responsible for all error the
project would be saving money still along with the initial construction being higher quality.
Another change to the contract could have been a set profit for the contractors rather than having
an increasing profit with increasing cost. The cost of the project did help alleviate much of the
traffic issue in boston.
Calculating a cost-benefit analysis is nearly impossible with how many factors play a
role. The project did cost 24 billion however the benefits seem to outway. The daily traffic
doesn't get congested for 16 hours a day and 300 acres of open space was created from this

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project. Along with hundreds of acres of parks the carbon monoxide level went down 12% a
huge health benefit for the whole city. The added benefit of much more area for parks and
development of the city, a healthier city, and less traffic daily made the 24 billion in cost worth
it.

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References
[1] Road Traffic Technology. Boston Big Dig, Central Artery / Tunnel Project, Massachusetts,
United States of America.
http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/big_dig/ Accesed March 3, 2016

[2] Harris, William. How Tunnels Work.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/structural/tunnel5.htm Accessed March 3, 2016

[3] Hayes, John. The Big Dig. Oct. 17 2006.

http://www.engineering.com/Library/ArticlesPage/tabid/85/ArticleID/77/The-Big-Dig.aspx
Accesed March 3,2016

[4] MassDOT, The Big Dig. 2016.

https://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TheBigDig/ProjectBackground.aspx Accesed March
6, 2016

[5] Justine Hofherr. Boston.com. Can We Talk Rationally About the Big Dig Yet? Jan. 5 2015.
http://www.boston.com/cars/news-and-reviews/2015/01/05/can-talk-rationally-about-the-big-dig
-yet/0BPodDnlbNtsTEPFFc4i1O/story.html Accesed March 6, 2016

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[6] Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff. Water Intrusion in the I-93 Tunnels: Causes and Cures. Nov.
2005.
http://www.bechtel.com/getmedia/c7d3450b-de57-457c-97d3-fc75cf771363/Water_Intrusion/
Accessed Mar. 3 2016

[7] "Leonard P Zakim-Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (I-93 and US 1)". Copyright Eastern Roads
Company. http://www.bostonroads.com/crossings/zakim/ Accessed 2 Mar 2016.

[8] Virginia Greiman. The Big Dig: Learning from a Mega Project July 15, 2010.

http://appel.nasa.gov/2010/07/15/the-big-dig-learning-from-a-mega-project/ Accessed
Mar. 3 2016

[9] Solutions for Tunnels.

http://www.haywardbaker.com/WhatWeDo/Structures/Tunnels/default.aspx. Accessed 3 March
2016.

[10] The Engineer. The Big Dig.

http://www.engineering.com/Library/ArticlesPage/tabid/85/ArticleID/77/The-Big-Dig.aspx.
Accessed 4 March 2016

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