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December 2, 2008 12:14:50 PM CST

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Boston's $14.8B 'Big Dig' All Dug

Posted Dec 26, 07 3:00 AM CST in Technology,  US 

(Newser) – The most complicated and expensive highway project in American history is finally complete, AP reports. After 16 years of excavating and building, the ambitious "Big Dig" tunnel project under Boston will be turned over to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority January 1. The final price tag was $14.8 billion—$12 billion over the first estimate in 1982.

The project's history is a story of scandal, delay, epic traffic jams, five fatalities and monstrous cost overruns, as well as amazing engineering feats. They've had a long wait, but the people of Boston, both drivers and pedestrians, give a big thumbs-up to the project that has transformed downtown Boston and slashed cross-city travel time.

Source Associated Press

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The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, seen on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007, sits where the elevated Central Artery once snaked through downtown Boston. The Greenway, the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnell, and the...   (Associated Press)
Vehicles, left, enter a portion of the "Big Dig" Central Artery Project tunnel which connects the Massachusetts Turnpike with Logan International Airport, moments after the section was opened to general...   (Associated Press)
A worker on the Big Dig makes his way down a muddy bank in a portion of the multi-billion dollar construction project in Boston in this file photo taken Tuesday, March 14, 2000. The Big Dig, the nation's...   (Associated Press)
Traffic enters the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel, the major component of the Big Dig, Saturday Dec. 8, 2007, in Boston. The Big Dig, the nation's most complex and costliest highway project, will officially...   (Associated Press)
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