November 18, 2003
Big Dig good!
Yesterday I went for a drive through Boston. I've seen the progress of the Big Dig from many angles over the years, but I haven't driven the "central artery" route since they've started to open some of the new road.
I know that the Big Dig has been a huge, expensive, controversial deal here in Massachusetts, for well over a decade. But I've always said that it's gonna be a wonderful thing for the area. I compare it to the removal of a very similar elevated highway in San Francisco, which was taken down after the 1989 earthquake. No one had realized what a barrier this road had been, but since it is gone the area has opened up, becoming a beautiful public park and connecting the downtown to the bayfront in a bright, exciting way. I think the same thing will happen here.
Southbound it was kinda exciting to see that they are well along on removing the northbound side of the old elevated highway.
For those unfamiliar, I'm driving southbound near Faneuil Hall Marketplace. There used to a full three lane highway to the left of the one I'm driving on. [Pics taken through my windshield, while also driving, on a gray, rainy afternoon.]
Northbound, the road still enters a tunnel near South Station, but now it remains underground all the way through town until it emerges here near North Station, rising up onto the new Z bridge.
Very cool.
Posted by jghiii at November 18, 2003 12:37 PM