The Big Dig's Big Dig

摘要

Boston's "Big Dig"―officially, the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T project)―is the largest, most complex, and most technologically challenging infrastructure project in American history, an undertaking on a par with the transcontinental railroad. The brainchild of Frederick P. Salvucci, the secretary of transportation for the commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1982 to 1990, the project was conceived to replace Boston's notoriously congested six-lane elevated Central Artery, which ran through the center of the downtown area. The replacement has two main elements: extending Interstate 90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike) from its current terminus―south of the downtown area―under Boston Harbor to Logan Airport and replacing the elevated Central Artery (Interstate 93) with a tunnel running through the heart of the city. The I-90 project included the first major project milestone, the Ted Williams Tunnel beneath Boston Harbor, which opened in December 1995. Other major elements include four major highway interchanges; a two-bridge, 14-lane crossing of the Charles River on the northern edge of the downtown area; the world's largest highway tunnel ventilation system; and the world's most advanced electronic traffic management and incident response system.