Word: dig
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...those who seldom manage the trip from Cambridge to Boston, the idea of the Big Dig may be as foreign as Roxbury and Southie. However, most Bostonians know and abhor the constant reality that driving anywhere in the city means--fighting insufferable traffic, endless construction and inevitable road rage. According to many of these frustrated drivers, the root of the chaos is the Central Artery, an elevated, rust-coated hunk of steel that carries crawling traffic north to south through the middle of Boston...
...those pile drivers, wrecking balls and backhoes doing for the common good? Get ready, because the Artery will soon be blasted up and replaced by some pretty fountains, park benches and begonias. In 1991, the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, affectionately (or not so affectionately) known as The Big Dig, was started to combat ferocious traffic problems in the Boston area. The plan called for Boston's exposed artery--its largest eyesore--to be buried. The Artery's traffic will be carried instead along a 10-lane underground expressway. Anyone living downtown better be ready to feel safe above hollow ground: most...
...everyday danger of the dig sites becomes apparent when talking to construction workers. As one worker answered a question about the religious tags hanging from his hardhat, "I just figure you need every added blessing you can get. We're dealing with life and death every second down there." When asked whether anything dangerous occurs at his site, another construction worker refuses to comment, admitting, "I can't talk about it. That's for the PR guys at the office to talk about. Look for yourself then you can decide whether it's dangerous or not." Glancing down...
...Dig work runs around the clock in three shifts: one from 1 a.m. to 3 p.m., one from 3 p.m. to midnight and another red-eye from midnight to 7 a.m. "It's doesn't matter if it's dark outside," Curly points out, "it's dark down there anyway". Compensation is just for this sunless travail. According to some workers at the South Station tunnel site, "We get paid $90,000 a year and that's probably a hell of a lot more than you'll get paid out of Harvard." The engineer working at the hole next door...
...Dig has already been under construction since 1991 and those involved expect it to continue until 2004. As of September, 98 percent of the design has been completed but only 43 percent of the construction. The construction was originally projected to be finished by 1998, then 2000, and then 2002. The current estimate is 2004, but many Bostonians agree that they'll be dealing with the Dig for at least another 10 years. The entire cost of this monstrous public works project--the biggest engineering feat since the Panama Canal--is $10.8 billion; 70 percent being funded by the generous...