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September 5, 2008 10:22:51 PM CDT

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Big Dig's Big Mess Nets Big Settlement

Posted Jan 23, 08 6:34 PM CST in US 

(Newser) – Contractors on the botched Boston construction project dubbed the Big Dig will pay state and federal authorities $458 million for its “gross failures.” But Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff will avoid criminal charges for a fatal 2006 ceiling collapse and won’t be banned from future government contracts, the Boston Herald reports. Massachusetts attorney general Martha Coakley called it “the best possible solution.”

But critics quickly blasted the deal. Coakley “should be ashamed,” said one official. Gov. Deval Patrick had supported barring Bechtel/Parsons from seeking lucrative public projects, but Coakley insisted that would have cut down on the monetary settlement that would ensure safety. The 17-year project of bridges and tunnels in downtown Boston—blighted by delays, scandals, and blunders—cost taxpayers $15 billion.

Source Boston Herald

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Angel Del Valle, husband of Milena Del Valle, who was killed when concrete ceiling panels in a Big Dig tunnel collapsed onto her car, wipes tears during a news conference in Boston, in this Aug. 30, 2006...   (Associated Press)
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008, in Boston. Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the consortium that oversaw design and construction of...   (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. Big Dig contractors will...   (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)
Firefighters inspect a section of ceiling in the Interstate 90 connector tunnel through Boston that collapsed onto the roadway and killed a woman passenger in a car, in this Sunday, July 10, 2006, file...   (Associated Press)
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Boston  • Massachusetts  • construction  • contractors  • Deval Patrick  • Big Dig


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