On the Otherhand...No Confidence Builder Here...

Big Dig closures hit drivers at night
Early shutdowns disrupt motorists, jam streets
By Connie Paige and Sean P. Murphy
Globe Correspondent and Globe Staff
August 21, 2005

Portions of the Big Dig regularly shut down to nighttime traffic earlier than the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority advertises, confusing some motorists and lengthening the traffic jams that now frequently tie up the city late at night, a Boston Globe review has found.

During a four-week period in July and August, a Globe correspondent drove the length of the Big Dig tunnels and nearby detours at night, monitoring closing times of some of the key ramps to and from Interstate 93 and the Mass. Pike in the downtown area. The reporter found that of 137 scheduled ramp closures, 51 of the shutdowns occurred earlier than scheduled.

On average, those early shutdowns occurred 33 minutes before the scheduled time, but some were longer. On July 19, access from Atlantic Avenue in downtown Boston to Interstate 93 northbound was closed off at least an hour and a half earlier than scheduled.

Several of the observed entrances to the Big Dig adhered closely to the advertised schedule, the Globe review found. They include onramps at Congress Street and at Essex Street to southbound I-93. Both consistently closed at or about the advertised time. The Haymarket onramp, near Faneuil Hall, regularly closed later than the posted time.

Still, commuters say the early shutdowns of the key entrance points to I-93 and Interstate 90 -- the major thoroughfares in and out of Boston -- complicate and extend their trips.

Big Dig was begun in 1983 with an estimated cost of $2.2 Billion to be completed in 1995. Currently, the cost is estimated at $14.6 Billion and projected to be finished this year. It runs 7.5 miles, half of what is being proposed in Houston. Is anyone out there as concerned about this as I am? Does this sound insane?

Full Story: Boston's Big Dig

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