For visitors to Boston, while you're driving through the Big Dig tunnels, keep an eye out for the color of the tiles on the walls. RED means the tunnel is under land BLUE means the tunnel is under water.
As a Massachusetts native, I can't thank you enough for this video. I have vivid childhood memories of getting stuck in Boston traffic during roadtrips and asking my dad why the traffic was so bad. He always said, "The Big Dig." I was convinced for part of my life that the Big Dig would never end. Now I'm 28, and I've lost track of how many times I've driven through the I-93 tunnel and the Zakim Bridge on my way to downtown. It's as natural a part of my life as breathing. Time is weird.
As a lifelong Bostonian, it is very much a blessing and a curse. A blessing to the senses and soul, a curse to the wallet. While the project as a whole is often met with scorn, the fact is it completely reopened our waterfront and changed the atmosphere of the city. Every single day I work I walk along Atlantic Avenue from South Station to Long Wharf where I work on the ferries, often using the Rose Kennedy Greenway paths if I’m not in a rush. And the effects it had on the harbor as a whole, with Spectacle Island going from a literal garbage dump to one of the cities nicest parks, which I have the utmost pleasure of seeing the effects that Island has on those who visit it, and now with the Seaport/Innovation District becoming a booming hotspot, I’d say overall it did its job. Traffic is like blood in that it will adapt and shrink/expand depending on the arteries in which it flows. But to all of us living, working, or using the newly reinvigorated elevated highway-free surface, this project was completely worth it. And I honestly couldn’t imagine it being any different.
🚗🏞️🏙️🌆🌉📡 Thank you very much for writing that. Sharing your thoughts with us. It was beautiful to read and we'll written. I loved this video. And as I am a story writer, and avidly amazed and Interested in how construct interacts with cities and what not, plus I love tunnels and bridges and stuff like that, this was amazing. The things that can be wrought from blueprints, the mind, and construction weaponry is amazing. Cheers and be blessed my friend. 🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆
I remember walking down by the North End the day after traffic was diverted underground. The quiet of no longer having a highway RIGHT THERE was stunning. As much of a pain as it was to live with, I think it was the right thing to do.
I grew up in Boston, but left at the time the Big Dig design was started. My earliest memories are of really minimal traffic and practically empty roads (late 1950s, early 60s), but by the time I went to college (early 70s, but still Boston area), the traffic was nuts. But visiting Boston occasionally nowadays, Rian's exactly right: the Rose Kennedy Greenway is truly wonderful. I wish I could move back.
I’m born and raised in Boston, and my whole life I’ve benefited from this without realizing it. Boston looks so much better without a massive highway running through it.
But they did this Project without linking Boston South with Boston North train Stations, making your rail Network slowed and less attractive. Total disaster.
@@OldManJenkins23 well firstly your regional and Rapid Transit trains arent particularly accessible, not sure they meet the modern standard. Secondly, because trains have to terminate in both sides of the City it is inefficient, slow, wastes capacity, chews up Platform space that could be better used, and costs more to run. Thirdly I dont have a Problem changing trains If its sensible, i regularly need to make 3-4 changes between Bus, LR, train, and Subway to get to where i want to go. Finally, its not me that has to put Up with the hassle and the resulting traffic, it's everyday people in Boston!
The raised highway made it feel like a dystopian slum of the future to me as a child, once the green spaces replaced them the city felt like a historic gem.
Go to the Museum of Science and you can see(at least they used to have the Big Dig exhibit) the original promotional video that portrayed what an elevated highway would look like. It was a total dream. It looked like the Jetson's flying cars except on a track with no buildings in sight, as though the highway was going to be 1,000 ft in the sky! Instead, it was barely 30ft. As a punk kid, I'd be standing near Quincy marketplace, throwing fruit up onto the Expressway.
I lived in Boston during this time. Traffic was so bad that I literally outran the trolley home. What do I mean? Well, I lived 6 miles from my workplace on the Green “B” T-line. The Green lines are mostly above ground, and do not have dedicated crossings or elevated tracks or anything. Basically, Boston’s Green lines are at the mercy of regular road traffic. During rush hour, I ran home the 6 miles from work mostly along my T-line’s route 2-3 times per week. After a few weeks of this, I realized the T took about 55 minutes to go the same 6 miles that I typically ran in 45 minutes or less (depending on crosswalk traffic!). Yes, road traffic was so bad that it affected the trolley trains, causing the trains to go slower than a human on foot!
We had it like that on a stretch that took about 2 minutes. It took 20 in the rush hour, bumper to bumper. And the seafront, and the City Hall were divided by a 6 lane highway, the statues and fountains not being particulareøy nice to visit, sitting in a traffic island. They built tunnells here too (quite a lot, actually, Norwegains love road tunnells…) and the lines are a memory. And the square between City Hall and the seafront is now a huge "mingling space" for pedestrians.
Simon didn't talk about them tunneling though a muddy section where they drove refrigeration tubes into the soil to freeze it. That was an amazing trick!
When they dug the tunnel for the Victoria line on the London Underground in the 60’s they did something similar. Amazing what engineers come up when faced with unique problems.
indeed an engineering marvel, while I was watching it as an engineer I was very much mesmerized with the techniques and how brilliant they are in thinking of these ideas.
@@LarryDickman1 - They had to do that as they tunneled beneath the railroad, because the tunnel was only 5 feet deeper than the railroad. No, they didn't cause a collapse.
I remember every phase of this construction when I was younger. One day I took a wrong turn and accidentally decided to go through the central artery through the city and it was all complete. And I was amazed at how fantastic it was. So little traffic so well designed. I decided in that moment that it was worth every penny and all the trouble. Ever since that experience I’ve been a avid supporter of infrastructure projects like this.
Do I really know something Simon doesn't? The elephants were a throwback to Carnegie, who built the first steel bridge in PA. The public, having not experienced steel structures before, were concerned that it would collapse. As proof of it's stability and due to a rumor that elephants wouldn't walk on unstable foundations, he hired an elephant to walk across the bridge on it's opening. The bridge still stands I believe, Eads Bridge for the designer I believe.
The elephants always arrived by train in Cambridge and then walked over to the Boston Garden for the Circus. There was some reason they couldn't go directly to Boston. I remember we would go see them walking when I worked in Kendall Sq.
@@kennyduarte783 The CTY herd will swarm all over it! Obvs, we know the Titanic sank when it did, and why it did.. If it even were a different ship, would it matter, the worst that's happened is insurance fraud, and I don't buy ship insurance, so I guess it won't effect my premiums. And who likes insurance companies, other than shareholders?
Andy Ruse... titanic and olimipic's names were swapped in February of 1912 in Harland and Wolfe shipyard. There is a famous photo of them together. Note how neither have their names on the bow and the ship in the photo known as titanic is clearly Olympic due to the differences on the A deck promenade and mooring towers slightly protruding from the superstructure. Technically Olympic ran in to an iceberg and titanic was the badass. Britannic, well she was the biggest I guess, but only just
As one who was around Boston a lot during this time, the project sucked but the end result really can’t be measured. It’s spurred so many other improvements to the city from the greenway, a great new arena, and commuter train improvements to new hotels, offices buildings and apartments along the rout. Boston is an entirely different city without the old elevated highway.
Titanic would be a great idea, I'd ask to make sure you cover all three ships of her class - the Olympic (the first one), the Titanic (second), and Britannic (the third)...
I would love to see more pictures, videos, maps, diagrams, infographics and so on in these types of video rather than just talking and the odd piece of text on the screen. When talking about the tunnels, bridges, work sites etc, it would have been neat to see a map of the extent of what you are talking about. Thanks for the content!!
yeah i was thinking that, too. i still don't know where in the city the tunnel is (or the streets it's replacing) nor do i know how that thing changed the city since i assume the old highways would have been deconstruced or used for something else.
@@larsb8665 The tunnel bisects the Downtown under Atlantic Ave and runs in three separate routes the primary goes directly under the Harbor side Area as mention with grade level exits in the business district near South Station it also connects to an existing tunnel which connected E. Boston to the downtown area the Third section goes from S. Boston under the Harbor to Logan International Airport. That is the simple gist of it but it can be a bit of a maze.
@@KMBaill79 there's an image on this news site: archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/15/state_plans_to_remove_or_cover_big_dig_tunnel_railings_after_deaths/?page=2 It also goes into more detail about how the accidents occurred - mainly, it seems, by people speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, crashing and then being ejected from the vehicle into the barrier. Not nice, but, you know, seatbelts are there for a reason...
During college I had a friend who accidentally drove into Boston and was stuck there for 2 days. He needed to get a hotel because he couldn't get out. This was before GPS or smartphones.
Great review. I was one of the first to work on the project in 1989. One thing that stood out for me was the Annelex Building next to North Station, on the other side of North Station and the Boston Gardens. This building was a 13 storey rectangular box of a building housing light manufacturing and stood directly in the way of the project. This is also where they housed the elephants when the circus came into town. In early 1986 after the project was approved, the government quickly went ahead and pulled the imminent domain card on all real estate that would have to make way for the project. Obviously to avoid speculators from jumping in. It just so happened that a wealthy investor had just bought the building as part of his investment strategy, not knowing about the project, for $26 Million. They approached him and offered him $54 Million. He turned it down demanding $100 million! Needless to say, the thing went into arbitration, and they settled on $76 million! So the guy made more than $50 million in two years although this process took a few years to be settled.
I lived in the North End of Boston for years and this project was amazing how much it reconnected that neighborhood with the rest of the city. Yes it was expensive, but the atmosphere of the city is so much improved! Also, it did drive the rats out of the ground and they got agressive on the streets during garbage days! 😆
Yah I live right next to the state house and I love that I can just pop right over to the North End. Beacon Hill is such a quiet neighborhood and the North End is so lively. It’s great having an easy choice between the two
Rather than the Titanic, you should tackle all three of the Olympic-class liners. Olympic and Britannic both have much more interesting construction stories than Titanic because those two actually underwent refits, Olympic most of all.
Boston represent!! I drove limos and taxis all through that crapshow. Every week was a new street layout. Maps were useless and gps was barely heard of.
As a former Mass citizen (though not a Bostonian) - I wondered why my BFF from Boston asked me to drive into Boston.... NEVER AGAIN! I still have nightmares. Not a fan of NYC traffic, but that I can do in a pinch :-)
@@hkbabel The traffic there is just terrible.. but I learned to drive in Madrid, with even a bigger dig (also full of leaks) and way worse traffic.. so it was okish for me to drive there.
Even now, driving in Boston is not for the faint of heart. Back then, I had a couple of part time jobs driving motor coaches. One was for a charter and tour company located in central MA., and the other was for an interstate carrier, based in Springfield, MA. I was in and out of the city a great deal and if there is one thing I learned about driving in the city, it was that you had to do it like you meant it. I'm not saying one had to be reckless behind the wheel, but one had to have a slightly aggressive attitude.
We traveled through Boston during our honeymoon going from New Hampshire to Cape Cod and found out the "Just Married" sign was better than a police escort. Everyone figured we were in a hurry (or something) and were constantly given a wave to cut the line. We got through the traffic in no time :-)
I’ve lived here my entire life and despite The Big Dig being ridden with issues, setbacks and corruption, I have to admit 93 is a lot better post big dig.
Lifelong Bostonian. I’d agree with the sentiment: the ultimate bill was outrageous and we still feel the cost to this day. But I-93 growing up was hell. And downtown does look a lot better without ugly, raised pillar highways
I am in Boston right now and driven via these tunnels. I take them for granted. It’s amazing to see how much hard work and dedication put by so many people. Kudos to them.
I really enjoyed this. My thought is that the $2.8B initial estimate if reviewed with skepticism would have been far under the actual cost of the project; but was needed to be done in order to get public approval. Much easier to get approval for a $2.8B project than one three times the cost. But that said it did make Boston a better city. As Simon noted it has reduced CO emissions and made the City of Boston a better more inviting place. I will say the cable bridge (which runs by TD Garden) is gorgeous and an example of what can be done when you have the right people working efficiently on a project. Go Red Sox.
Thank you so much for this! I'm from Boston born and raised and the Big Dig as well as the many, many infrastructure projects throughout Boston's history have always fascinated me. It's such an old beautiful historic city that is constantly growing and evolving and it's interesting seeing all of the challenges and benefits along the way. Another video I'd love to see would be on Boston's old ass subway system lmao The first in the U.S.
Great video! As a civil engineer who grew up just outside Boston this was a nice, succinct review of an extremely complex project. The average layman cannot possibly fathom the level of planning, design and detail that goes into every aspect of this project. Everything from a 10,000' overview when doing long-term corridor planning to designing a single water/sewer/gas/electrical connection for each building is done with a purpose. The challenge of keeping a busy city moving while building above, below and around it is incomprehensible to most people. There is water all around, crappy, contaminated soil to deal with, a gazillion miles of underground utilities, relentless traffic and residents only interested in their particular piece or their pet project instead of the big picture. Boston would be almost unbearable without this project. Instead, it is one of the most desirable cities in the US.
Keep in mind that the big dig was meant to improve the experience of living in, working in or visiting Boston. It has certainly done that. Boston is no longer chopped to pieces by massive roads and viaducts. It is physically impossible to build enough roads for everyone to commute from suburbia by car. So it makes sense to not ruin the city with too much car infrastructure. Traffic will suck during rush hour no matter what. This is now much better understood than it was a few decades ago. Traffic expands to fill roadways so building more and more will just lead to a hellish city filled with nothing but highways. We're slowly learning to optimize the urban environment, not just car throughput.
you are leaving out the fact that the original roads were horrible, made for horses and pedstrians, not automobiles. It's often said Boston's roads are built upon cow paths, and this is beleivable. Also they have many one-way streets (and even partially one-way, partially two-way streets) and Massachusetts had been on a streak of destroying and replacing "rotaries" (known elsewhere as roundabouts), as the rest of the world was discovering that they are much safer traffic solution. That's right, now the world is installing roundabouts, in the 80s, Boston was getting rid of them. Also parking spaces are likewise more expensive. I commuted to Boston from western suburbs in the 80s and basically totally avoided Boston as much as possible the rest of the time. ;D
@LTNetjak really anyone who get a state contract has connections and absolutely it should be a union job , actually I don’t think any company shouldn’t have a union I won’t hire anyone nor in one
I love how foreign People call it Autobahn and not Highway or something like that. Autobahn is directly connected in everyones head to no speed Limits. Awsome
Now after my complaint riddled comment, I will give some positives. I was not old enough to drive when the central artery came down, but I do remember riding on it. I do remember the brutal traffic, in the frustration that whatever relative I was with was experiencing and having to deal with that. The current system is far more efficient, even if there is still traffic in Boston. The waterfront, in the city in general looks so much better. Now travelers going from storrow Drive to US Route 1 North no longer have only 600 ft to get across three lanes of traffic! The project paved way for improvements on the MBTA that were far overdue! Although I grew up pretty much not knowing what Boston looked like without construction, I would have to say overall it was worth it!
Great summary! I was a huge critic of this project early on after seeing various news exposes. I lived in Boston from 2004-2010. It was still a big mess when I got there. My office window actually looked out over the "boat" section of I-90 in South Boston just beyond where the ceiling fell. Watched daily press conferences for months. The old central artery was aweful, total eyesore and non-stop traffic. When I left, they were still touching up some of the green space but it was truly an amazing transformation. What was the ugliest, dirtiest part of the city is now amazing, clean public space. When I left, they were still having some issues with tunnel leakage. When they dug the I-90 tunnel under the Fort Point channel, they drained it and it caused wooden pilings to rot and the building my office was in before I got their collapsed. At the end, I finally did think it was worthwhile.
Simon, as a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, I thank you for a video on this topic. It won't fail simply because I think there are more than enough people who have been to Boston who've enjoyed being there to give it enough views and Likes. And please follow it up with one on the Titanic.
@@Craftlngo Oh yeah, all the time I was growing up it was "By the year 2000" - as if things would be like the Jetsons. It was a sort of magical date. Then it came and went and, meh. Now we're stuck in 2020, the worst year in living memory.
I started driving as a chauffeur as they started tearing up the city streets in 1997. 2007 was the final parts of the project, but things started opening in about 2004. Man, even that felt like an eternity. Now, in 2024, I'm looking at the project wondering when they'll start thinking about replacing that...still driving...the Big Dig was SO WORTH IT.
I remember Boston before the Big Dig. You can’t describe it. I remember going someplace there once, and on the paper map I had, one block had an image of what looked like an amoeba. When I got there, the entire block was a pothole. Yeah, that’s how bad it was. The potholes were on the map. And they were HUGE.
An impressive piece of construction in a huge time crunch in one of the worst economic periods in history? The Empire State Building would be a perfect megaproject! (The titanic too!)
I lived in Boston for about a year in 1988 and experienced the I-93 first hand. Not only did it not do a good job of handling the traffic, but it was also, in my opinion, one of the ugliest structures I have seen. Rather than being built of concrete, all the exposed I-beams were a real eyesore in the downtown area. Also, it seemed public works construction seemed to go extremely slowly in the city. When I heard it was being replaced I was pleased, but I am so glad I didn't have to live through the construction.
Anyone else remember the commercials they used to air with the traffic reporter having no delays to report? It was better for a little bit, but didn’t last long. But, at least where I-93 used to run through Boston looks so much better. That was a huge eyesore
Its not exactly mega by today's standards but it was one of the largest engineering projects of early america. It also establish the army corps of engineers, the Erie canal
Made buffalo the city with the most millionaires per capita in the world. Then canada dug the welland canal to divert the shipping elsewhere and the rustbelt kicked into high gear....
@@mattr0103 The Canadians we usually meet are leafs fans or some of the craziest and most passionate Bills fans from Hamilton area. Nice doesn't usually factor in. The nice Canadians visit cooler places than Buffalo haha.
My first visit to America, was to Boston back in 1998 and I was shocked by how busy the roads were around the centre. Noisy, polluted and had to get around. Heard about the big dig and followed it for years on the internet. And then forgot about it once it was done... finally went back to Boston last year and walked on the green area, did some shopping... and then it dawned on me that I was on the old road. They did a really amazing job on it.. you never guess how bad it was based on it’s current form.
Simon, The elephants were not just for fun. It's widely believed that elephants are somewhat aware of their extreme mass and therefore will not walk on unstable surfaces. It was common practice during the industrial building boom to use this 'fact' to draw attention to while 'proving' their designs.
There’s a lot about titanic so I would suggest doing the 3 Olympic class liners to produce something a bit different. I’d personally love to know more about what happened Olympic, it sunk a u-boat and it doesn’t ever get mentioned!
I live about 40 miles from Boston. The Big Dig was a dramatic improvement. It's still congested to drive through Boston, but now the traffic flows, where before there were constant traffic jams. Considering the size and difficulty of the project it's amazing that there weren't a lot more problems.
I haven't seen a documentary on the construction of the Eiffel Tower, so I like that idea! Maybe the Statue of Liberty? The joint project of constructing the International Space Station?
Don't forget Titanic had 2 sister ships, Olympic & Britannic AND a humongous ongoing conspiracy theory about which one of the 3 'actually' went down that night... Was the ship that said 'as' Titanic actually Titanic, or was it the earlier ship re-badged... There's always a lot of bad luck associated with 'renamed' vessels (apparently.)
I’d also love to know more about the construction of the titanic than I’ve seen in any of the documentaries I’ve come across. I’d be especially interested in more on the construction/installation of the luxury accommodations.
I’ve lived in Boston for about 50 years, and I will attest that the road system that the Big Dig replaced was horrendous. I would try to avoid it between 7 am and 7 pm daily. I went 10 miles out of my way for peace of mind. The new roads have been great. That said, if the true cost was known when Tip O’Neil got it through Congress, it never would have happened.
Most public projects are like that. It's always," we need extra money for this and for that." In my home state when cost of digging the hole exceeded budget they would just stop digging. We had two projects that languished four years as big holes in the ground until they decided to fully fund the projects.
There were many impressive engineering feats with the big dig. An innovative use of grout and ground freezing to make digging and tunneling in the soft fill easier. Not to mention the tunnel under the fort point channel, this was built in sections on land in a cofferdam and then floated out into the channel and sunk. Unfortunately the many cost overruns and shoddy workmanship sometimes overshadow the more impressive engineering.
My friends who worked on the big dig said this was their motto " a grand a week to play hide and seek" Meaning they mostly stayed outa sight of there bosses. Thats one reason it was over budget
Also had friends on that job , the over time scams they had was insane. Being paid overtime while they're at a frigging bar getting drunk. And we're still paying tolls on the pike 👎👎
When Andrew Carnegie build the first steel bridge across the Mississippi river, people didn't trust the strength of the steel. Carnegie read of a folk tale that said an Elephant would not cross an unsound structure. On opening day of the Mississippi river bridge he hired an elephant to be the first to cross the bridge, followed by a hired crowd of people. The stunt worked and everyday travelers trusted the bridge.
all i remember is cool trucks that would drive OVER those movable concrete barriers you see when they are blocking a lane on a highway off, they would slide them over exactly 1 lane to change traffic flow.
I always used to day, "There is nothing 'express' about the Southeast Expressway." I had to commute to Boston from the north in 2000 when the elevated highway was still in use and it was *terrible*. The Big Dig, for all its faults, was a necessary and dramatic improvement.
But 14,6 BILLIONS OF $ ? Seriously? We have built a 57 km/36,5 ml rail tunnel through the Alps ! 151,84 km/94,39ml in total for 12,2B FrS/. 13,4 B $ Your plans 2,8 B$ Our plans 8,,03 FrS/ 9,09B$ ...
Be very hard to do so, with companies bidding for the jobs to get the works, n then blowouts with unforseen events, mismanagement, and fraud , or error lols. For example Sydney opera house project was originally scheduled for four years, with a budget of AUS $7 million, ended up taking 14 years to be completed and cost AUS $102 million, for a few reasons, but unions and poor management was majority of the issue. But please do exploration of the huge projects in and around Dubai, they're still quite close to on time n budget n quality, I think both the first island, the hotel, an tallest tower all came close to those goals. Of course the Dubai government has quite punishing results ( their jails infamously bad, and time in one is possible for mismanagement of a contract) for fun up n costing moneys.
UNION WAGES DRIVE UP THE COST OF CONSTRUSTION PROJECTS. IM A UNION STEEL WORKER MY SELF. BUT I STILL SEEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS. POOR PLANING BY PROJECT MANAGERS ALSO CAUSES THIS. THE AVERAGE PERSON WOULD BE SHOCKED TO SEE AN AVERAGE DAY ON THE CONSTRUCTION SITE. $30HR TO SIT AROUND AND WAIT FOR "SOMEONE ELSE" TO MAKE THE CALL
@@jpframpt971 on top $30 to you , your subcontractor is paying about double that for payroll taxes, insurance, super, n other bits and pieces And of course while your sitting there because of a simple problem, say for instance a forklift needs to be refuled but taken an hour or two because of the management forget their responsibility to supply fuels to hire equipment. Forklift is a paltry amount, say 10/hr. But you're sitting on the equipment (say a mixer of high tech surfaces) that's costing better than $200 , and the cranes can't move until you have finished with your efforts, which are waiting at a silly $350hr plus their crew of three, and of course lunch may be called a few minutes near the time fuel gets to you. So that's approximately a grand a hour that's spent, without any production being finished. And as you know this will probably happen a few times until the store on-site has adjusted for the levels needed. And on big projects, all supplies needs go THRU the tendering process to illiminate any possible overspending or sweetheart contracts. Can you imagine what happens when a simple error in management gets out of control. For example one fellow used the inside measurement of a window frame instead of the outside for his crew of 50 cutting holes in a concrete building. Quite the FUBR for over 100 cut till it was caught out of the 500 needed. So about 2000hrs downtime for the week it takes to finding the solution n fix. Not including the window makes his crew n factory, whose work needs fixing or replacing, n Waiting for a week as well. Plus the insurance, infrastructure, utilities, security, public safety etc. One wrong measument, missed by architect, contrator n leading hand costs 750,000 extra, not included in the budget. But what to do w with a building that's 65% finished.? At least the lunch girls turning up in their truc everyday seems happy lolz. Itself easy n fast for things to sprial and doesn't require a dickhead, sometimes inattention or possibly tiredness n stress
@@DevinEMILE The small SUV style car is only increasing in height and lenght. The normal hatchback saloon and estate in Europe have grew and grew every new generation. The first generation Ford Fiesta was a small 3 door car. same size as the 1st gen VW polo. A modern Fiesta or Polo is 1.5 the size of the 1st gen. and are bigger then the 1st gen Ford Escort VW Golf. European cities have often evolved around the 2000 years old Roman road system who were only suited for oxcarts. So vehicels had to be historicly way smaller then in the US.
I drove a tourist bus there during the Dig. There was a rather large orange road sign reading: Rome wasn't built in a day. If it had been, we would have hired the same contractor.
Speaking of highways, you should do the Interstate Highway System. It's something we Americans take for granted, and it definitely can be called a megaproject.
I grew up only knowing the big dig, when I was 17 and drove under the city for the first time I was in complete awe. I have never lost my utter amazement and gratitude for the big dig. What easy would take an hour, that is to just get through the city and continue on 93, can now be done in minutes at highway speeds. I don't know anyone in Boston who thinks this was a failure. The only problem is it made the city so much nicer that it's wicked expensive now lol. Cheers
Big dig? Headache? Yes. Been there, lived through it, pray you didn’t have to go anywhere in the eastern half of the state when the Red Sox were playing the Yankees. The traffic was basically locked for the full day. You would pass over the border from New Hampshire into Massachusetts and the backup essentially started there.
Even though a Yankees fan I empathize, hate the new Yankees stadium, and hope you never have to traverse the Bronx Expressway - if you ever have had to go S to N on I-95 you likely have your own nightmares! :-)
I worked for a company that built some of the concrete tunnel forms, and other forms for parapet walls, etc., for Conesco out of New Jersey, who supplied this project, and they were always changing things. I remember designing a portable hydraulic power unit, which needed to be liftable at the end of a workday by a crane, to keep someone from stealing it.
Oh boy. PLEASE NO!!! The price tag. THE PRICE TAG. California's reputation for cost overruns, scaled to the Big Dig. The biggest, probably most expensive construction project in the nation. Let's not bankrupt the nation here. California itself would be fine, but i suspect( I mean know) that they would immediately go for federal funding if they were to go bankrupt. And raise taxes. Even more.
@@michaelmoses8745 I never said it would be cheap. But the fact is the city is an absolute mess. Between it's horrific labyrinth of traffic jammed roads, the scores of abandoned buildings, and the entire sections that few brave men would dare venture, the city needs to be completely rebuilt.
I'd settle with an overhead section of the I-5 being built in LA county with the existing road being converted to all south and the overhead being all north. It's not so bad once you get into orange county and it's 7 lanes each way, but 3 lanes is ludicrous. Double the lanes and rush hour will be reduced by an hour on each end
Hi Simon, a suggestion for possibly a Megaproject, or maybe a Sideproject, the Snowy Hydro System in Australia, a massive hydro electric system in the Snowy Mountains National Park, it includes 16 Dams, 9 Power Stations, 2 pumping stations and 225km of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts. It also contributed immensely to modern Australian society with a huge influx of workers migrating from many war-torn countries who've gone on to become a significant part of the fabric of the highly Australian culture and community. Like a good Mega/Sideproject video should be, more than just a bit thing, but a profound affect on the society it was built for. Thanks for reading and thanks for the always excellent videos across your channels
Went to elem school in Rhode Island in the late 90s and remember hearing about it then. We went to Boston a few times during those years. Been living in Boston now for the past five years, that area where the green space is between Haymarket and the North End is just great. Always love going down there to hang out, grab food, etc. Imagining a highway on stilts going through there, casting a grimy shadow over the neighborhood is just awful. I know Boston is still bearing the cost, but I think it was worth it. The city is better for it.
As you said, this was overall a positive thing for the city, however they underestimated the future traffic and it was almost obsolete upon completion. Again, an improvement over what it would have been but now traffic going into the city north/south is just as bad during rush hour. That said, it was really interesting to drive into Boston while this was going on. You were rerouted almost daily so forget trying to help someone navigate who wasn’t familiar with the city. Overall the project did help “green” the city. The northend became much more accessible to pedestrians. The rose Kennedy greenway has not only provided great park space but also helps host plenty of events. Spectacle Island was probably the biggest transformation as it had been a city garbage dump for years. It smelled awful when you went near it. Today it’s a beautiful park with great views of the city/harbor.
And what they didn’t do is actually connect Amtrak across the city. If you leave Portland Maine or Portsmouth NH you de train in north station, take the T across the city and get on another train in south station.
Are they really? If they classify as die hard cynics by US standards, the average Northwest European would probably still think they were infuriatingly optimistic. :D :D
I am a proud Bostonian, and I think the city is way better off with the tunnels. The city itself is so much nicer without the elevated expressways. Plus the Zakim Bridge is a work of art! An icon!
i lived in mass just south of Boston. I've sat in 3 hours of traffic because of an accident and about 6 hours because of a snow storm. FUN TIMEs...good ole "allegedly" mob contracts
You are Welcome! Once again, Massachusetts, leads the way. Lived this as a suburbanite planing the project and then as a Boston-townie, during the dig itself. I’m now convinced I could live through any municipal project. And, I remember the “Ginsu guardrails” in the Ted Williams Tunnel, like it was yesterday. Yes! Titanic.
This is probably a weird suggestion for megaprojects, as it isn't incredibly industrial, and it's not very well known, but I think a very interesting construction project is the building of the Latter-day Saint Salt Lake Temple in Utah. It's astounding, because the large structure was built without power tools over the course of forty years, and for much of that time, all the materials were transported with the use of oxen teams from the nearby mountains. It probably isn't grand enough for this series, but it astounds me considering all the challenges faced in its construction. The building is now almost 130 years old.
@@ilarious5729 Now that's not very nice. Our church's activities are often confused with our break off sect in southern Utah. They are the ones who practice polygamy and have engaged in criminal activities. So unless you have a beef with us about our church doctrine, I believe you are confused about who we are.
@@armchairrocketscientist4934 this isn't a religious channel so let's not get into it more, but I have beef with all organized religion, most sects are cult like and cause so much disturbance on the lifes of their members. Good if your experiences haven't been bad but there are plenty of those who have suffered. Good day to you anyhow! :)
@@armchairrocketscientist4934 A beef? Let's list a few shall we? Tithing Tax avoidance Secret ceremonies Brainwashing It was created by a convicted con artist Members are encouraged to not associate with non-members, unless conning them into joining the cult Until very recently it refused to see non whites as people Interfering in family matters even where it's none of your concern Harassing people who want to leave Treating women as baby factories And the most egregious thing of all: MAGIC UNDERPANTS.
My goodness I love Simon's channels. His little asides and reactions to the information he's presenting makes it so much better than those channels that basically sound like a robot reading a script (typing this in reaction to the part about the rats, specifically...)
"I went to Boston because I liked Boston Legal" No need for embarrassment, Simon. I went to Florence because I liked Assassin's Creed Also, the Ginsu knife is pronounced with a hard G, not a soft g (Jinsu is incorrect)
Simon you cleverly combine 3 of my favorite things in the world on a regular basis for me to enjoy. History, comedy, and learning new things. Thank you very much.
Ive watched this video at least 10 times. As someone who grew up in Boston during this, it was so ass until it was finished. It was severely understated how getting rid of the above ground highways and adding parks changed the North end of Boston into community space where there are art markets and fruit stands and many other things in that 27 acres. Great video on the Booty Cheeks that was early 2000's Boston.
It's always interesting when you've lived through one of Simon's videos. I was in 1st grade in 91 and had finished college by 07.... so the big dig was most of my young life. Traveling to and from 5he city, going up north to visit family. When the bridge opened it was one of the most beautiful things as a kid to see.
Mega projects are supposed to run over budget. It's like a key feature or something. It goes like this: The public wants something done, and since everyone is such a smartarse they think it's something you "just do". The politicians know damn well that this is going to be hard and expensive, but they want to get reelected, so they reject everything that sounds expensive, so we end up with, if not fringe engineering, then at least "creative solutions". The contractors look at this and go "Yeah, we can do that on budget, provided the following 1000000 conditions hold true. Any of them don't hold true and we start billing you by the hour". Now everything looks good for everyone except the tax payers because this is defunct by design. People get jobs. Shit gets done. Spin doctors help the politicians not look incompetent for signing off on an impossible task. Lawyers get something to do because the different contractors sue each other, the public and a random kinder garden along the way. The various activists of every kind has something feel validated as an activist over. And eventually we have a new thing..... And by the time it's done, it's basically time to start over, because the project needs were deliberately underestimated to be able to sell it to the politicians in the first place.... Yup, representative democracy is AWESOME when it comes to mega projects :P
Thats universal around the globe. The New in 2018 opened North-South 9,7 km metro line in Amsterdam (7.1 km underground the historic city center ) went also way above budget from 800 million to 3 bilion euro. politics and enginering don't mix good! and if politicians say how to do the the enginering you get the Berlin Airport disaster
Visited Boston a lot during that time frame, and I would always park at one of the outlying T (the subway system) stops and take the T in. Its just that kinda city, and the T is easy to use.
Again another great video, I have been to Boston before and after the big dig, much better now. The best thing about private cars over public right now is the covid-19 virus, see virus spread on New York subways and over crowded city buses. Thanks for your time and work....
You didn't mention my favorite, freezing the ground under the rail tracks to be able to dig a tunnel without disturbing the train traffic. Such a cool (pun intended) technology!
You missed the giant oversight of the Zakim bridge: That design where the cables cross over the driving lanes is unique, and designed to make that bridge look special, and more appealing. The problem came the first winter after it opened, and ice was forming on those cables, then dropping onto the road below, when it melted a little bit, smashing windshields. I'm not actually sure what the solution wound up being (I was hoping you'd tell us), but I'd guess they have to heat the cables, somehow.
My favorite thing about these videos is any time Simon cracks up. (I live in MA about as far from Boston as possible while remaining in the same state, so I heard a lot about the Big Dig over the years.)
I liked how you pronounced "controversy" I'm gonna start saying it like that as I have already starting saying "al-u-min-yum" instead of "a-loo-min-num-" due to all your videos on your various channels. Love all of them! Thanks Simon!
I started driving to work in Boston around 1986 and have lived in the Boston area all my life. Traffic was awful and the raised roadway was constantly being repaired. I had a chance to work on the big dig for 6 months around 1996. I was really interested in seeing how the project was being built. Lots of issues with construction, money, moving utilities, but the final project definitely made a big improvement on the local traffic and the raised sections have been replaced with grass and parks. Huge inconvenience for local businesses and drivers during the project, but it was a necessity to move Boston forward.
For visitors to Boston, while you're driving through the Big Dig tunnels, keep an eye out for the color of the tiles on the walls. RED means the tunnel is under land BLUE means the tunnel is under water.
For real? I never realized that. I'm in RI so next time I'm up there I'll look out for that
What about white titles? Red white and blue.anyone?
@@Bamamarama Red= sewer line
I thought you just had to look for the next leak?
@@MrFister84 gas leak, water leak.
As a Massachusetts native, I can't thank you enough for this video. I have vivid childhood memories of getting stuck in Boston traffic during roadtrips and asking my dad why the traffic was so bad. He always said, "The Big Dig." I was convinced for part of my life that the Big Dig would never end. Now I'm 28, and I've lost track of how many times I've driven through the I-93 tunnel and the Zakim Bridge on my way to downtown. It's as natural a part of my life as breathing. Time is weird.
As a lifelong Bostonian, it is very much a blessing and a curse. A blessing to the senses and soul, a curse to the wallet. While the project as a whole is often met with scorn, the fact is it completely reopened our waterfront and changed the atmosphere of the city. Every single day I work I walk along Atlantic Avenue from South Station to Long Wharf where I work on the ferries, often using the Rose Kennedy Greenway paths if I’m not in a rush. And the effects it had on the harbor as a whole, with Spectacle Island going from a literal garbage dump to one of the cities nicest parks, which I have the utmost pleasure of seeing the effects that Island has on those who visit it, and now with the Seaport/Innovation District becoming a booming hotspot, I’d say overall it did its job. Traffic is like blood in that it will adapt and shrink/expand depending on the arteries in which it flows. But to all of us living, working, or using the newly reinvigorated elevated highway-free surface, this project was completely worth it. And I honestly couldn’t imagine it being any different.
Thank you for sharing this! Really opens my eyes to how important this was.
🚗🏞️🏙️🌆🌉📡
Thank you very much for writing that. Sharing your thoughts with us. It was beautiful to read and we'll written. I loved this video. And as I am a story writer, and avidly amazed and Interested in how construct interacts with cities and what not, plus I love tunnels and bridges and stuff like that, this was amazing. The things that can be wrought from blueprints, the mind, and construction weaponry is amazing.
Cheers and be blessed my friend.
🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆
I remember walking down by the North End the day after traffic was diverted underground. The quiet of no longer having a highway RIGHT THERE was stunning. As much of a pain as it was to live with, I think it was the right thing to do.
I grew up in Boston, but left at the time the Big Dig design was started. My earliest memories are of really minimal traffic and practically empty roads (late 1950s, early 60s), but by the time I went to college (early 70s, but still Boston area), the traffic was nuts. But visiting Boston occasionally nowadays, Rian's exactly right: the Rose Kennedy Greenway is truly wonderful. I wish I could move back.
Love this positivity. Spectacle island does look like a penis though haha
I’m born and raised in Boston, and my whole life I’ve benefited from this without realizing it. Boston looks so much better without a massive highway running through it.
Lol.....
@@joeyabb1965 what's so funny?
But they did this Project without linking Boston South with Boston North train Stations, making your rail Network slowed and less attractive. Total disaster.
@@BigBlueMan118Oh no, I have to get off the train and walk 20 feet onto another train. How horrific. The humanity 🙄
@@OldManJenkins23 well firstly your regional and Rapid Transit trains arent particularly accessible, not sure they meet the modern standard. Secondly, because trains have to terminate in both sides of the City it is inefficient, slow, wastes capacity, chews up Platform space that could be better used, and costs more to run. Thirdly I dont have a Problem changing trains If its sensible, i regularly need to make 3-4 changes between Bus, LR, train, and Subway to get to where i want to go. Finally, its not me that has to put Up with the hassle and the resulting traffic, it's everyday people in Boston!
The raised highway made it feel like a dystopian slum of the future to me as a child, once the green spaces replaced them the city felt like a historic gem.
ruclips.net/video/d5pPKfzzL54/видео.html
Yep!
Go to the Museum of Science and you can see(at least they used to have the Big Dig exhibit) the original promotional video that portrayed what an elevated highway would look like. It was a total dream. It looked like the Jetson's flying cars except on a track with no buildings in sight, as though the highway was going to be 1,000 ft in the sky! Instead, it was barely 30ft. As a punk kid, I'd be standing near Quincy marketplace, throwing fruit up onto the Expressway.
I lived in Boston during this time. Traffic was so bad that I literally outran the trolley home. What do I mean? Well, I lived 6 miles from my workplace on the Green “B” T-line. The Green lines are mostly above ground, and do not have dedicated crossings or elevated tracks or anything. Basically, Boston’s Green lines are at the mercy of regular road traffic. During rush hour, I ran home the 6 miles from work mostly along my T-line’s route 2-3 times per week. After a few weeks of this, I realized the T took about 55 minutes to go the same 6 miles that I typically ran in 45 minutes or less (depending on crosswalk traffic!). Yes, road traffic was so bad that it affected the trolley trains, causing the trains to go slower than a human on foot!
My sister (and I briefly) lived on Mission Hill during the 90s, where the E train used to become a literal street trolly. Oh the memories.
still girl, those who say it is those who pay it, i am poor too
We had it like that on a stretch that took about 2 minutes. It took 20 in the rush hour, bumper to bumper. And the seafront, and the City Hall were divided by a 6 lane highway, the statues and fountains not being particulareøy nice to visit, sitting in a traffic island. They built tunnells here too (quite a lot, actually, Norwegains love road tunnells…) and the lines are a memory. And the square between City Hall and the seafront is now a huge "mingling space" for pedestrians.
7:35 mile is quick after a day's work, nice hustle!
So how are things now? Was it worth it?
Simon didn't talk about them tunneling though a muddy section where they drove refrigeration tubes into the soil to freeze it. That was an amazing trick!
Used a lot of frozen nitrogen. You could see the feeder pipes on the surface.
When they dug the tunnel for the Victoria line on the London Underground in the 60’s they did something similar. Amazing what engineers come up when faced with unique problems.
indeed an engineering marvel, while I was watching it as an engineer I was very much mesmerized with the techniques and how brilliant they are in thinking of these ideas.
That's pretty common actually.
@@LarryDickman1 - They had to do that as they tunneled beneath the railroad, because the tunnel was only 5 feet deeper than the railroad. No, they didn't cause a collapse.
I remember every phase of this construction when I was younger. One day I took a wrong turn and accidentally decided to go through the central artery through the city and it was all complete. And I was amazed at how fantastic it was. So little traffic so well designed. I decided in that moment that it was worth every penny and all the trouble. Ever since that experience I’ve been a avid supporter of infrastructure projects like this.
Do I really know something Simon doesn't?
The elephants were a throwback to Carnegie, who built the first steel bridge in PA. The public, having not experienced steel structures before, were concerned that it would collapse. As proof of it's stability and due to a rumor that elephants wouldn't walk on unstable foundations, he hired an elephant to walk across the bridge on it's opening.
The bridge still stands I believe, Eads Bridge for the designer I believe.
That's some cool info! Thanks! =D
This indeed was information i needed! Thank you!
I'll do it for two bags of peanuts and not a peanut less! -🐘
The elephants always arrived by train in Cambridge and then walked over to the Boston Garden for the Circus. There was some reason they couldn't go directly to Boston. I remember we would go see them walking when I worked in Kendall Sq.
Titanic absolutely. And maybe the sister ships.
Definitely - all three had interesting tales.
Yes, absolutely. You don’t see much of the Olympic, even less the Britannic.
@@ArakDBlade Ahh.. Time for the CT herd!
@@kennyduarte783 The CTY herd will swarm all over it! Obvs, we know the Titanic sank when it did, and why it did.. If it even were a different ship, would it matter, the worst that's happened is insurance fraud, and I don't buy ship insurance, so I guess it won't effect my premiums. And who likes insurance companies, other than shareholders?
Rather than just the Titanic, perhaps an episode on the Olympic Class in general as they have an interesting collective history.
HMS Dreadnaught may be another good idea with a nautical theme.
Just all Harland and Wolfe to be honest, I asked a couple of weeks ago on a different video for the same thing. I really hope he does
The Japanese destroyer Mushashi would be cool too
@@BamBoomBots Thats a pretty big destroyer.
Andy Ruse... titanic and olimipic's names were swapped in February of 1912 in Harland and Wolfe shipyard. There is a famous photo of them together. Note how neither have their names on the bow and the ship in the photo known as titanic is clearly Olympic due to the differences on the A deck promenade and mooring towers slightly protruding from the superstructure. Technically Olympic ran in to an iceberg and titanic was the badass. Britannic, well she was the biggest I guess, but only just
As one who was around Boston a lot during this time, the project sucked but the end result really can’t be measured. It’s spurred so many other improvements to the city from the greenway, a great new arena, and commuter train improvements to new hotels, offices buildings and apartments along the rout. Boston is an entirely different city without the old elevated highway.
Titanic would be a great idea, I'd ask to make sure you cover all three ships of her class - the Olympic (the first one), the Titanic (second), and Britannic (the third)...
Intellectual Wino yeah that would be great!
I was thinking the same thing, you can't talk about one of them and not the other two.
Honestly, the Titanic is the least interesting construction story out of the three because it never had any refits.
I agree. The tale of those three ships would be great.
This would be my pick, rather than just the Titanic.
I would love to see more pictures, videos, maps, diagrams, infographics and so on in these types of video rather than just talking and the odd piece of text on the screen. When talking about the tunnels, bridges, work sites etc, it would have been neat to see a map of the extent of what you are talking about. Thanks for the content!!
yeah i was thinking that, too. i still don't know where in the city the tunnel is (or the streets it's replacing) nor do i know how that thing changed the city since i assume the old highways would have been deconstruced or used for something else.
Yeah, he waffles on like fuck
@@larsb8665 The tunnel bisects the Downtown under Atlantic Ave and runs in three separate routes the primary goes directly under the Harbor side Area as mention with grade level exits in the business district near South Station it also connects to an existing tunnel which connected E. Boston to the downtown area the Third section goes from S. Boston under the Harbor to Logan International Airport. That is the simple gist of it but it can be a bit of a maze.
Also I would have liked to see a photo of these “Ginsu” barriers
@@KMBaill79 there's an image on this news site: archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/15/state_plans_to_remove_or_cover_big_dig_tunnel_railings_after_deaths/?page=2
It also goes into more detail about how the accidents occurred - mainly, it seems, by people speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, crashing and then being ejected from the vehicle into the barrier. Not nice, but, you know, seatbelts are there for a reason...
During college I had a friend who accidentally drove into Boston and was stuck there for 2 days. He needed to get a hotel because he couldn't get out. This was before GPS or smartphones.
That happened to me quite often. It probably had something to do with the bars I was in.
Even today GPS or ur phone still struggle to keep up/make the course u should b traveling easy to define.
was this before braincells? lol
@@mthompson0331 ahahhahaha
I think you should cover all three of them, the Titanic and her sister ships
There were sister ships? Love it that would he something that the usual short videos don't get into
I second this!
Yes please do the 3 sister Olympic-class. Titanic, Britannic, and Olympic. They all have great stories.
Agreed! No one ever talks about the other two.
Yes
Great review. I was one of the first to work on the project in 1989. One thing that stood out for me was the Annelex Building next to North Station, on the other side of North Station and the Boston Gardens. This building was a 13 storey rectangular box of a building housing light manufacturing and stood directly in the way of the project. This is also where they housed the elephants when the circus came into town.
In early 1986 after the project was approved, the government quickly went ahead and pulled the imminent domain card on all real estate that would have to make way for the project. Obviously to avoid speculators from jumping in. It just so happened that a wealthy investor had just bought the building as part of his investment strategy, not knowing about the project, for $26 Million.
They approached him and offered him $54 Million. He turned it down demanding $100 million! Needless to say, the thing went into arbitration, and they settled on $76 million!
So the guy made more than $50 million in two years although this process took a few years to be settled.
I lived in the North End of Boston for years and this project was amazing how much it reconnected that neighborhood with the rest of the city. Yes it was expensive, but the atmosphere of the city is so much improved! Also, it did drive the rats out of the ground and they got agressive on the streets during garbage days! 😆
And then the rats ran for office and WON!!
Yah I live right next to the state house and I love that I can just pop right over to the North End. Beacon Hill is such a quiet neighborhood and the North End is so lively. It’s great having an easy choice between the two
Rather than the Titanic, you should tackle all three of the Olympic-class liners. Olympic and Britannic both have much more interesting construction stories than Titanic because those two actually underwent refits, Olympic most of all.
I came down to the comments to say yes to the Titanic, but I agree with this even more.
Boston represent!! I drove limos and taxis all through that crapshow. Every week was a new street layout. Maps were useless and gps was barely heard of.
As a former Mass citizen (though not a Bostonian) - I wondered why my BFF from Boston asked me to drive into Boston.... NEVER AGAIN! I still have nightmares. Not a fan of NYC traffic, but that I can do in a pinch :-)
I was a kid back then. I can't imagine driving in Boston back then. Its bad enough NOW
I love drove in the U.s. Than one day I reach Boston. Lost and jam in traffic. I managed my way out. That was an experience.
@@hkbabel The traffic there is just terrible.. but I learned to drive in Madrid, with even a bigger dig (also full of leaks) and way worse traffic.. so it was okish for me to drive there.
Even now, driving in Boston is not for the faint of heart. Back then, I had a couple of part time jobs driving motor coaches. One was for a charter and tour company located in central MA., and the other was for an interstate carrier, based in Springfield, MA. I was in and out of the city a great deal and if there is one thing I learned about driving in the city, it was that you had to do it like you meant it. I'm not saying one had to be reckless behind the wheel, but one had to have a slightly aggressive attitude.
We traveled through Boston during our honeymoon going from New Hampshire to Cape Cod and found out the "Just Married" sign was better than a police escort. Everyone figured we were in a hurry (or something) and were constantly given a wave to cut the line. We got through the traffic in no time :-)
That’s so sweet. Hope you have kids on the way.
Who says Boston drivers are aggressive assholes. We have some compassion
I’ve lived here my entire life and despite The Big Dig being ridden with issues, setbacks and corruption, I have to admit 93 is a lot better post big dig.
Lifelong Bostonian.
I’d agree with the sentiment: the ultimate bill was outrageous and we still feel the cost to this day. But I-93 growing up was hell. And downtown does look a lot better without ugly, raised pillar highways
I had grandparents in the North End growing up. Going to see them during the Big Dig was a special sort of hell.
Born just outside Boston and it was absolute hell. What should be a 15 min drive took an hour and a half AT BEST.
Tessa Rossa yup. For sure. But hey who cares, keep milking the taxpayers whenever you need more cash, right? /sarcasm
It would have been great if old els were repurposed for bicycles. I don't find them so bad.
Also it doesn't take half the day to drive through the city anymore.
I am in Boston right now and driven via these tunnels. I take them for granted. It’s amazing to see how much hard work and dedication put by so many people. Kudos to them.
I really enjoyed this. My thought is that the $2.8B initial estimate if reviewed with skepticism would have been far under the actual cost of the project; but was needed to be done in order to get public approval. Much easier to get approval for a $2.8B project than one three times the cost.
But that said it did make Boston a better city. As Simon noted it has reduced CO emissions and made the City of Boston a better more inviting place. I will say the cable bridge (which runs by TD Garden) is gorgeous and an example of what can be done when you have the right people working efficiently on a project.
Go Red Sox.
Thank you so much for this! I'm from Boston born and raised and the Big Dig as well as the many, many infrastructure projects throughout Boston's history have always fascinated me. It's such an old beautiful historic city that is constantly growing and evolving and it's interesting seeing all of the challenges and benefits along the way. Another video I'd love to see would be on Boston's old ass subway system lmao The first in the U.S.
Great video! As a civil engineer who grew up just outside Boston this was a nice, succinct review of an extremely complex project. The average layman cannot possibly fathom the level of planning, design and detail that goes into every aspect of this project. Everything from a 10,000' overview when doing long-term corridor planning to designing a single water/sewer/gas/electrical connection for each building is done with a purpose. The challenge of keeping a busy city moving while building above, below and around it is incomprehensible to most people. There is water all around, crappy, contaminated soil to deal with, a gazillion miles of underground utilities, relentless traffic and residents only interested in their particular piece or their pet project instead of the big picture. Boston would be almost unbearable without this project. Instead, it is one of the most desirable cities in the US.
Keep in mind that the big dig was meant to improve the experience of living in, working in or visiting Boston. It has certainly done that. Boston is no longer chopped to pieces by massive roads and viaducts. It is physically impossible to build enough roads for everyone to commute from suburbia by car. So it makes sense to not ruin the city with too much car infrastructure. Traffic will suck during rush hour no matter what. This is now much better understood than it was a few decades ago. Traffic expands to fill roadways so building more and more will just lead to a hellish city filled with nothing but highways. We're slowly learning to optimize the urban environment, not just car throughput.
Yeah, it's objectively much better now, but it was also a massively collosal fuck up of a project lmao
you are leaving out the fact that the original roads were horrible, made for horses and pedstrians, not automobiles. It's often said Boston's roads are built upon cow paths, and this is beleivable. Also they have many one-way streets (and even partially one-way, partially two-way streets) and Massachusetts had been on a streak of destroying and replacing "rotaries" (known elsewhere as roundabouts), as the rest of the world was discovering that they are much safer traffic solution. That's right, now the world is installing roundabouts, in the 80s, Boston was getting rid of them. Also parking spaces are likewise more expensive. I commuted to Boston from western suburbs in the 80s and basically totally avoided Boston as much as possible the rest of the time. ;D
Cuvtixo D Boston is so so much nicer than the late 80s that was 30 years ago ,no comparison
@LTNetjak really anyone who get a state contract has connections and absolutely it should be a union job , actually I don’t think any company shouldn’t have a union I won’t hire anyone nor in one
Who wants to live in Taxachusetts anyway?
Suggestions for future videos:
- The Alaska Pipeline (Barrow to Valdez)
- The New York Subway system
- Titanic & her sister ships
- The Autobahn
its not called barrow anymore
Titanic had a sister ship?
@@spritemon98 Titanic actually had 2 sister ships: RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic.
@@route66flyer29 I saw Simons video about that
I love how foreign People call it Autobahn and not Highway or something like that. Autobahn is directly connected in everyones head to no speed Limits. Awsome
Now after my complaint riddled comment, I will give some positives. I was not old enough to drive when the central artery came down, but I do remember riding on it. I do remember the brutal traffic, in the frustration that whatever relative I was with was experiencing and having to deal with that. The current system is far more efficient, even if there is still traffic in Boston. The waterfront, in the city in general looks so much better. Now travelers going from storrow Drive to US Route 1 North no longer have only 600 ft to get across three lanes of traffic! The project paved way for improvements on the MBTA that were far overdue! Although I grew up pretty much not knowing what Boston looked like without construction, I would have to say overall it was worth it!
Great summary! I was a huge critic of this project early on after seeing various news exposes. I lived in Boston from 2004-2010. It was still a big mess when I got there. My office window actually looked out over the "boat" section of I-90 in South Boston just beyond where the ceiling fell. Watched daily press conferences for months. The old central artery was aweful, total eyesore and non-stop traffic. When I left, they were still touching up some of the green space but it was truly an amazing transformation. What was the ugliest, dirtiest part of the city is now amazing, clean public space. When I left, they were still having some issues with tunnel leakage. When they dug the I-90 tunnel under the Fort Point channel, they drained it and it caused wooden pilings to rot and the building my office was in before I got their collapsed. At the end, I finally did think it was worthwhile.
Simon, as a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, I thank you for a video on this topic. It won't fail simply because I think there are more than enough people who have been to Boston who've enjoyed being there to give it enough views and Likes.
And please follow it up with one on the Titanic.
I remember back in 2000 when I heard "2008", it felt so far away.
Here, in 2020, it's surreal.
as a child I thought of how old I would be in 2000 and it felt terrible old. Now we have 2020...
@@Craftlngo Oh yeah, all the time I was growing up it was "By the year 2000" - as if things would be like the Jetsons. It was a sort of magical date. Then it came and went and, meh. Now we're stuck in 2020, the worst year in living memory.
I went to the museum of science to an exhibit when I was a kid now said like ten years I'm 37 and I think they're still building that s***
I started driving as a chauffeur as they started tearing up the city streets in 1997. 2007 was the final parts of the project, but things started opening in about 2004. Man, even that felt like an eternity. Now, in 2024, I'm looking at the project wondering when they'll start thinking about replacing that...still driving...the Big Dig was SO WORTH IT.
I remember Boston before the Big Dig.
You can’t describe it.
I remember going someplace there once, and on the paper map I had, one block had an image of what looked like an amoeba.
When I got there, the entire block was a pothole.
Yeah, that’s how bad it was. The potholes were on the map.
And they were HUGE.
An impressive piece of construction in a huge time crunch in one of the worst economic periods in history? The Empire State Building would be a perfect megaproject! (The titanic too!)
I lived in Boston for about a year in 1988 and experienced the I-93 first hand. Not only did it not do a good job of handling the traffic, but it was also, in my opinion, one of the ugliest structures I have seen. Rather than being built of concrete, all the exposed I-beams were a real eyesore in the downtown area. Also, it seemed public works construction seemed to go extremely slowly in the city. When I heard it was being replaced I was pleased, but I am so glad I didn't have to live through the construction.
getting around Boston was pure hell for a solid 10 years. now it's just terrible
straight improvement right there
To be fair, right _now_ the traffic is a dream. It took a pandemic to fix Boston traffic.
you are giving a cynical, knee jerk wrong reply
The big dig was the craziest time to have to commute into the city everyday...not that it was much better until the pandemic
Anyone else remember the commercials they used to air with the traffic reporter having no delays to report? It was better for a little bit, but didn’t last long. But, at least where I-93 used to run through Boston looks so much better. That was a huge eyesore
Its not exactly mega by today's standards but it was one of the largest engineering projects of early america. It also establish the army corps of engineers, the Erie canal
Great Idea!
You need to do it's Canadian brother, the st Lawrence Canal, too, then.
Made buffalo the city with the most millionaires per capita in the world. Then canada dug the welland canal to divert the shipping elsewhere and the rustbelt kicked into high gear....
@@Asmith218 we Canadians are supposedly nice, but we'll quietly dig a canal and turn an American city into ruin 😂
@@mattr0103 The Canadians we usually meet are leafs fans or some of the craziest and most passionate Bills fans from Hamilton area. Nice doesn't usually factor in. The nice Canadians visit cooler places than Buffalo haha.
They also found America's oldest Bowling Ball during the big dig. The archeology performed before the dig was priceless.
How about a CERN megaprojects video?
Coming soon :).
Would love to see the titanic project.
Me too.
My first visit to America, was to Boston back in 1998 and I was shocked by how busy the roads were around the centre. Noisy, polluted and had to get around. Heard about the big dig and followed it for years on the internet.
And then forgot about it once it was done... finally went back to Boston last year and walked on the green area, did some shopping... and then it dawned on me that I was on the old road.
They did a really amazing job on it.. you never guess how bad it was based on it’s current form.
Person: How many RUclips channels do you wanna host?
Simon: Yes.
All of them.
In the future, along with all restaurants being Taco Bell, all RUclips channels will be Simon's.
SimonTube
As many as he can we love him esp geographics and biographics
@@trashyhobo4957 that would be an huge improvement
12:30 Spectacle Island's biggest problem is all of the Mirelurks!
Well played but Preston has info on a settlement that needs help
@@TerryMcQ79 I will mark it on your map
Simon,
The elephants were not just for fun. It's widely believed that elephants are somewhat aware of their extreme mass and therefore will not walk on unstable surfaces. It was common practice during the industrial building boom to use this 'fact' to draw attention to while 'proving' their designs.
If you guys do another theoretical MegaProjects, could you do a Space Elevator?
NoMercy745 another theoretical mega projects, am I missing an episode?.
@@shaunlenton8865 dyson sphere
Wade Lees thanks
YES!!! Space Elevator
A space elevator is not at all possible. Why would anyone waste their time talking about it? 🙄🙄🙄🙄
There’s a lot about titanic so I would suggest doing the 3 Olympic class liners to produce something a bit different. I’d personally love to know more about what happened Olympic, it sunk a u-boat and it doesn’t ever get mentioned!
I live about 40 miles from Boston. The Big Dig was a dramatic improvement. It's still congested to drive through Boston, but now the traffic flows, where before there were constant traffic jams. Considering the size and difficulty of the project it's amazing that there weren't a lot more problems.
Titanic definitely, but you should also consider doing the Eiffel Tower, they're both very iconic and certainly mega sized
I haven't seen a documentary on the construction of the Eiffel Tower, so I like that idea! Maybe the Statue of Liberty? The joint project of constructing the International Space Station?
Don't forget Titanic had 2 sister ships, Olympic & Britannic AND a humongous ongoing conspiracy theory about which one of the 3 'actually' went down that night... Was the ship that said 'as' Titanic actually Titanic, or was it the earlier ship re-badged... There's always a lot of bad luck associated with 'renamed' vessels (apparently.)
I’d also love to know more about the construction of the titanic than I’ve seen in any of the documentaries I’ve come across. I’d be especially interested in more on the construction/installation of the luxury accommodations.
I’ve lived in Boston for about 50 years, and I will attest that the road system that the Big Dig replaced was horrendous. I would try to avoid it between 7 am and 7 pm daily. I went 10 miles out of my way for peace of mind. The new roads have been great. That said, if the true cost was known when Tip O’Neil got it through Congress, it never would have happened.
Most public projects are like that. It's always," we need extra money for this and for that." In my home state when cost of digging the hole exceeded budget they would just stop digging. We had two projects that languished four years as big holes in the ground until they decided to fully fund the projects.
Reagan wasn't all that dumb then..
There were many impressive engineering feats with the big dig. An innovative use of grout and ground freezing to make digging and tunneling in the soft fill easier. Not to mention the tunnel under the fort point channel, this was built in sections on land in a cofferdam and then floated out into the channel and sunk. Unfortunately the many cost overruns and shoddy workmanship sometimes overshadow the more impressive engineering.
My friends who worked on the big dig said this was their motto
" a grand a week to play hide and seek"
Meaning they mostly stayed outa sight of there bosses.
Thats one reason it was over budget
As a general rule, contractors paid by the hour are in no rush to finish the job and put themselves out of work.
Dont kill the job before the money runs out.
That's most huge Union jobs
Also had friends on that job , the over time scams they had was insane. Being paid overtime while they're at a frigging bar getting drunk. And we're still paying tolls on the pike 👎👎
And people are still wondering why the national debt is growing faster than the GDP
When Andrew Carnegie build the first steel bridge across the Mississippi river, people didn't trust the strength of the steel. Carnegie read of a folk tale that said an Elephant would not cross an unsound structure. On opening day of the Mississippi river bridge he hired an elephant to be the first to cross the bridge, followed by a hired crowd of people. The stunt worked and everyday travelers trusted the bridge.
The Eads Bridge. And its still being used 150ish years later.
Epic. Thank you for the knowledge.
Very nice info Bill.
all i remember is cool trucks that would drive OVER those movable concrete barriers you see when they are blocking a lane on a highway off, they would slide them over exactly 1 lane to change traffic flow.
Why just Titanic? You should look at the entire Olympic class.
And the potential insurance fraud that happened.
It would be nice to see something about the ship Gustloff. Which was a far worse disaster compared to the titanic but it is rarely reported about.
Matt Eagle I’ve never heard of it but will google it to find out 👍🏻
"Southeast Expressway" We called it the "Southeast Distress Way"
'Nuff said
Or "Compressway".
I always used to day, "There is nothing 'express' about the Southeast Expressway." I had to commute to Boston from the north in 2000 when the elevated highway was still in use and it was *terrible*. The Big Dig, for all its faults, was a necessary and dramatic improvement.
👍
I prefer SE Xway
But 14,6 BILLIONS OF $ ?
Seriously?
We have built a 57 km/36,5 ml rail tunnel through the Alps ! 151,84 km/94,39ml in total for 12,2B FrS/. 13,4 B $
Your plans 2,8 B$
Our plans 8,,03 FrS/ 9,09B$ ...
The BIG DIG was a parting gift from Speaker Tip O'Neil.....the graft was breathtaking.
Could you do a mega project where things are shockingly done on time and manage to stay under budget. I would love to the see the project that does it
Be very hard to do so, with companies bidding for the jobs to get the works, n then blowouts with unforseen events, mismanagement, and fraud , or error lols. For example Sydney opera house project was originally scheduled for four years, with a budget of AUS $7 million, ended up taking 14 years to be completed and cost AUS $102 million, for a few reasons, but unions and poor management was majority of the issue.
But please do exploration of the huge projects in and around Dubai, they're still quite close to on time n budget n quality, I think both the first island, the hotel, an tallest tower all came close to those goals. Of course the Dubai government has quite punishing results ( their jails infamously bad, and time in one is possible for mismanagement of a contract) for fun up n costing moneys.
UNION WAGES DRIVE UP THE COST OF CONSTRUSTION PROJECTS. IM A UNION STEEL WORKER MY SELF. BUT I STILL SEEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS. POOR PLANING BY PROJECT MANAGERS ALSO CAUSES THIS. THE AVERAGE PERSON WOULD BE SHOCKED TO SEE AN AVERAGE DAY ON THE CONSTRUCTION SITE. $30HR TO SIT AROUND AND WAIT FOR "SOMEONE ELSE" TO MAKE THE CALL
@@jpframpt971 on top $30 to you , your subcontractor is paying about double that for payroll taxes, insurance, super, n other bits and pieces
And of course while your sitting there because of a simple problem, say for instance a forklift needs to be refuled but taken an hour or two because of the management forget their responsibility to supply fuels to hire equipment. Forklift is a paltry amount, say 10/hr. But you're sitting on the equipment (say a mixer of high tech surfaces) that's costing better than $200 , and the cranes can't move until you have finished with your efforts, which are waiting at a silly $350hr plus their crew of three, and of course lunch may be called a few minutes near the time fuel gets to you.
So that's approximately a grand a hour that's spent, without any production being finished.
And as you know this will probably happen a few times until the store on-site has adjusted for the levels needed. And on big projects, all supplies needs go THRU the tendering process to illiminate any possible overspending or sweetheart contracts.
Can you imagine what happens when a simple error in management gets out of control. For example one fellow used the inside measurement of a window frame instead of the outside for his crew of 50 cutting holes in a concrete building. Quite the FUBR for over 100 cut till it was caught out of the 500 needed. So about 2000hrs downtime for the week it takes to finding the solution n fix. Not including the window makes his crew n factory, whose work needs fixing or replacing, n Waiting for a week as well. Plus the insurance, infrastructure, utilities, security, public safety etc.
One wrong measument, missed by architect, contrator n leading hand costs 750,000 extra, not included in the budget. But what to do w with a building that's 65% finished.?
At least the lunch girls turning up in their truc everyday seems happy lolz.
Itself easy n fast for things to sprial and doesn't require a dickhead, sometimes inattention or possibly tiredness n stress
Hoover dam was completed ahead of schedule and seems also to have been within budget (skimming wiki), but not without consequence.
*Elon* hold my Hornsdale power reserve
"just keep adding roads, they will run out of cars to clog them eventually" -city planner
when the trend is that cars get bigger every new generation of a model the problem will never solve.
@@obelic71 Do they keep getting bigger though. They seem to have gotten to a certain size and fluctuate slightly bigger and slightly smaller
@@DevinEMILE The small SUV style car is only increasing in height and lenght.
The normal hatchback saloon and estate in Europe have grew and grew every new generation.
The first generation Ford Fiesta was a small 3 door car. same size as the 1st gen VW polo.
A modern Fiesta or Polo is 1.5 the size of the 1st gen. and are bigger then the 1st gen Ford Escort VW Golf.
European cities have often evolved around the 2000 years old Roman road system who were only suited for oxcarts. So vehicels had to be historicly way smaller then in the US.
I am pretty sure that guy was transferred to Spain. That said they have a great road system, a ton of roads.
Every time they build a new road, it becomes another fucking car park
I drove a tourist bus there during the Dig. There was a rather large orange road sign reading: Rome wasn't built in a day. If it had been, we would have hired the same contractor.
Speaking of highways, you should do the Interstate Highway System. It's something we Americans take for granted, and it definitely can be called a megaproject.
Being from Boston, I wanna say THANK YOU for covering this fiasco!
I grew up only knowing the big dig, when I was 17 and drove under the city for the first time I was in complete awe. I have never lost my utter amazement and gratitude for the big dig. What easy would take an hour, that is to just get through the city and continue on 93, can now be done in minutes at highway speeds. I don't know anyone in Boston who thinks this was a failure. The only problem is it made the city so much nicer that it's wicked expensive now lol. Cheers
The Titanic for sure would be cool or maybe something like the Yamato(Japanese super battleship)
How about both?
Big dig? Headache? Yes. Been there, lived through it, pray you didn’t have to go anywhere in the eastern half of the state when the Red Sox were playing the Yankees. The traffic was basically locked for the full day. You would pass over the border from New Hampshire into Massachusetts and the backup essentially started there.
Even though a Yankees fan I empathize, hate the new Yankees stadium, and hope you never have to traverse the Bronx Expressway - if you ever have had to go S to N on I-95 you likely have your own nightmares! :-)
Traffic was ridiculous before the project though. Trying to get out of the city after a Red Sox game took hours in the old system.
I worked for a company that built some of the concrete tunnel forms, and other forms for parapet walls, etc., for Conesco out of New Jersey, who supplied this project, and they were always changing things. I remember designing a portable hydraulic power unit, which needed to be liftable at the end of a workday by a crane, to keep someone from stealing it.
Titanic sounds like a good project to do, what about the first trans Atlantic telephone cable too?
Yes , the cable projects would be far more interesting i reckons.
Cable one already recorded, coming soon :)
Los Angeles needs its own Big Dig, the city looks like someone playing Cities Skylines while drunk.
I have never seen a more accurate comment in all my life. You win
Oh boy. PLEASE NO!!! The price tag. THE PRICE TAG.
California's reputation for cost overruns, scaled to the Big Dig. The biggest, probably most expensive construction project in the nation.
Let's not bankrupt the nation here. California itself would be fine, but i suspect( I mean know) that they would immediately go for federal funding if they were to go bankrupt. And raise taxes. Even more.
@@michaelmoses8745 I never said it would be cheap. But the fact is the city is an absolute mess. Between it's horrific labyrinth of traffic jammed roads, the scores of abandoned buildings, and the entire sections that few brave men would dare venture, the city needs to be completely rebuilt.
I'd settle with an overhead section of the I-5 being built in LA county with the existing road being converted to all south and the overhead being all north. It's not so bad once you get into orange county and it's 7 lanes each way, but 3 lanes is ludicrous. Double the lanes and rush hour will be reduced by an hour on each end
The main reason the old EPA Highway standard was inflated is that the tests were modeled on LA Traffic from the 70s.
Hi Simon, a suggestion for possibly a Megaproject, or maybe a Sideproject, the Snowy Hydro System in Australia, a massive hydro electric system in the Snowy Mountains National Park, it includes 16 Dams, 9 Power Stations, 2 pumping stations and 225km of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts.
It also contributed immensely to modern Australian society with a huge influx of workers migrating from many war-torn countries who've gone on to become a significant part of the fabric of the highly Australian culture and community.
Like a good Mega/Sideproject video should be, more than just a bit thing, but a profound affect on the society it was built for.
Thanks for reading and thanks for the always excellent videos across your channels
Went to elem school in Rhode Island in the late 90s and remember hearing about it then. We went to Boston a few times during those years. Been living in Boston now for the past five years, that area where the green space is between Haymarket and the North End is just great. Always love going down there to hang out, grab food, etc. Imagining a highway on stilts going through there, casting a grimy shadow over the neighborhood is just awful. I know Boston is still bearing the cost, but I think it was worth it. The city is better for it.
As you said, this was overall a positive thing for the city, however they underestimated the future traffic and it was almost obsolete upon completion. Again, an improvement over what it would have been but now traffic going into the city north/south is just as bad during rush hour.
That said, it was really interesting to drive into Boston while this was going on. You were rerouted almost daily so forget trying to help someone navigate who wasn’t familiar with the city.
Overall the project did help “green” the city. The northend became much more accessible to pedestrians. The rose Kennedy greenway has not only provided great park space but also helps host plenty of events. Spectacle Island was probably the biggest transformation as it had been a city garbage dump for years. It smelled awful when you went near it. Today it’s a beautiful park with great views of the city/harbor.
And what they didn’t do is actually connect Amtrak across the city. If you leave Portland Maine or Portsmouth NH you de train in north station, take the T across the city and get on another train in south station.
“Wind thru your hair” hah does Danny write these too?
No. But I can see where the inspiration came from ;D
@Ex Animus Yeah but there's no way the wind is getting through that thing
"It would take a die hard cynic..."
You've evidently not spent enough time in New England. Being die hard cynics is their specialty 😁
I have...and I am.
New Englander here.....I approve this message
Are they really? If they classify as die hard cynics by US standards, the average Northwest European would probably still think they were infuriatingly optimistic. :D :D
@@rjfaber1991 Everything is relative :-)
This New Englander can confirm
Simon: "the 14 elephants were just a joke."
Civil engineers: "don't tell him about the 13 elephant bridges..."
I am a proud Bostonian, and I think the city is way better off with the tunnels. The city itself is so much nicer without the elevated expressways. Plus the Zakim Bridge is a work of art! An icon!
i lived in mass just south of Boston. I've sat in 3 hours of traffic because of an accident and about 6 hours because of a snow storm. FUN TIMEs...good ole "allegedly" mob contracts
ALLEGEDLY
My ex is American and I was watching this thinking 🤔 wasn’t there some talk of mob stuff, I’m sure he talked about that
Mob activity in Southie? Nah....
@@stormriderR3 😂
You are Welcome! Once again, Massachusetts, leads the way. Lived this as a suburbanite planing the project and then as a Boston-townie, during the dig itself. I’m now convinced I could live through any municipal project. And, I remember the “Ginsu guardrails” in the Ted Williams Tunnel, like it was yesterday.
Yes! Titanic.
2007: “I’m graduating college right on time with the Big Dig being completed, new job in Boston and no traffic! What luck!”
2008: “*#%#*!”
And $3k-$4k rent for a 1br apartment. :D
Induced demand. Happens everywhere.
This is probably a weird suggestion for megaprojects, as it isn't incredibly industrial, and it's not very well known, but I think a very interesting construction project is the building of the Latter-day Saint Salt Lake Temple in Utah.
It's astounding, because the large structure was built without power tools over the course of forty years, and for much of that time, all the materials were transported with the use of oxen teams from the nearby mountains.
It probably isn't grand enough for this series, but it astounds me considering all the challenges faced in its construction.
The building is now almost 130 years old.
shut your dumb mormon cult loving ass the fuck up
This could be interesting if there is v enough information of it other than the cults propaganda
@@ilarious5729 Now that's not very nice. Our church's activities are often confused with our break off sect in southern Utah. They are the ones who practice polygamy and have engaged in criminal activities.
So unless you have a beef with us about our church doctrine, I believe you are confused about who we are.
@@armchairrocketscientist4934 this isn't a religious channel so let's not get into it more, but I have beef with all organized religion, most sects are cult like and cause so much disturbance on the lifes of their members. Good if your experiences haven't been bad but there are plenty of those who have suffered. Good day to you anyhow! :)
@@armchairrocketscientist4934 A beef? Let's list a few shall we?
Tithing
Tax avoidance
Secret ceremonies
Brainwashing
It was created by a convicted con artist
Members are encouraged to not associate with non-members, unless conning them into joining the cult
Until very recently it refused to see non whites as people
Interfering in family matters even where it's none of your concern
Harassing people who want to leave
Treating women as baby factories
And the most egregious thing of all: MAGIC UNDERPANTS.
My goodness I love Simon's channels. His little asides and reactions to the information he's presenting makes it so much better than those channels that basically sound like a robot reading a script (typing this in reaction to the part about the rats, specifically...)
"I went to Boston because I liked Boston Legal"
No need for embarrassment, Simon. I went to Florence because I liked Assassin's Creed
Also, the Ginsu knife is pronounced with a hard G, not a soft g (Jinsu is incorrect)
He speaks English !
Wait til you hear him say ALUMINUM "AL You Mini-um"
Rendall - Reason? He loves his "Gin". (JK)
@ He pronounces it that way because it's spelled differently between North America and the rest of the world.
We succeed through our failures. The Big Dig was a bold move and ultimately a success.
Simon you cleverly combine 3 of my favorite things in the world on a regular basis for me to enjoy. History, comedy, and learning new things. Thank you very much.
Wait... you haven’t done the titanic yet? Yes you should do it.
Only been making vids for about a month :)
Have you done one on The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel?
Ive watched this video at least 10 times. As someone who grew up in Boston during this, it was so ass until it was finished. It was severely understated how getting rid of the above ground highways and adding parks changed the North end of Boston into community space where there are art markets and fruit stands and many other things in that 27 acres. Great video on the Booty Cheeks that was early 2000's Boston.
It's always interesting when you've lived through one of Simon's videos. I was in 1st grade in 91 and had finished college by 07.... so the big dig was most of my young life. Traveling to and from 5he city, going up north to visit family. When the bridge opened it was one of the most beautiful things as a kid to see.
Love to see your sense of humor on display! Cost overruns, delays, and 'amateur mistakes,' are the hallmark of American big construction, lol.
Not just American ;)
Not the Empire State Building.
Mega projects are supposed to run over budget. It's like a key feature or something. It goes like this: The public wants something done, and since everyone is such a smartarse they think it's something you "just do". The politicians know damn well that this is going to be hard and expensive, but they want to get reelected, so they reject everything that sounds expensive, so we end up with, if not fringe engineering, then at least "creative solutions". The contractors look at this and go "Yeah, we can do that on budget, provided the following 1000000 conditions hold true. Any of them don't hold true and we start billing you by the hour". Now everything looks good for everyone except the tax payers because this is defunct by design. People get jobs. Shit gets done. Spin doctors help the politicians not look incompetent for signing off on an impossible task. Lawyers get something to do because the different contractors sue each other, the public and a random kinder garden along the way. The various activists of every kind has something feel validated as an activist over. And eventually we have a new thing..... And by the time it's done, it's basically time to start over, because the project needs were deliberately underestimated to be able to sell it to the politicians in the first place.... Yup, representative democracy is AWESOME when it comes to mega projects :P
Thats universal around the globe.
The New in 2018 opened North-South 9,7 km metro line in Amsterdam (7.1 km underground the historic city center ) went also way above budget from 800 million to 3 bilion euro.
politics and enginering don't mix good!
and if politicians say how to do the the enginering you get the Berlin Airport disaster
"...With the wind blowing through your hair. Yeah...Your hair; I mean, not mine...obviously."
it would have almost been easier just to demolish the whole city and start over on an empty map SimCity style.
I like to say that Boston is one of those charming old cities that didn't have the good sense to burn down and be completely redesigned.
I'm a Bostonian and I agree with both of these comments.
Sounds like a traffic challenge in City Skylines
Lols, Boston 1950 savegame for SimCity or skyline lolz.
@@ewestner was the traffic as bad as mentioned earlier in the video?
Visited Boston a lot during that time frame, and I would always park at one of the outlying T (the subway system) stops and take the T in. Its just that kinda city, and the T is easy to use.
Again another great video, I have been to Boston before and after the big dig, much better now. The best thing about private cars over public right now is the covid-19 virus, see virus spread on New York subways and over crowded city buses. Thanks for your time and work....
You didn't mention my favorite, freezing the ground under the rail tracks to be able to dig a tunnel without disturbing the train traffic. Such a cool (pun intended) technology!
Came here to say that. Always will remember coming into south station on the commuter rail and seeing all those little white lumps on the ground
You missed the giant oversight of the Zakim bridge: That design where the cables cross over the driving lanes is unique, and designed to make that bridge look special, and more appealing. The problem came the first winter after it opened, and ice was forming on those cables, then dropping onto the road below, when it melted a little bit, smashing windshields. I'm not actually sure what the solution wound up being (I was hoping you'd tell us), but I'd guess they have to heat the cables, somehow.
Little robots that run along the cables breaking the ice off.
@@emmitunderwood9502 Wait, really?
@@c182SkylaneRG no. Coming at this with literally no information, I can confidently say no
My favorite thing about these videos is any time Simon cracks up.
(I live in MA about as far from Boston as possible while remaining in the same state, so I heard a lot about the Big Dig over the years.)
Yes titanic!
I liked how you pronounced "controversy" I'm gonna start saying it like that as I have already starting saying "al-u-min-yum" instead of "a-loo-min-num-" due to all your videos on your various channels. Love all of them! Thanks Simon!
I started driving to work in Boston around 1986 and have lived in the Boston area all my life. Traffic was awful and the raised roadway was constantly being repaired. I had a chance to work on the big dig for 6 months around 1996. I was really interested in seeing how the project was being built. Lots of issues with construction, money, moving utilities, but the final project definitely made a big improvement on the local traffic and the raised sections have been replaced with grass and parks. Huge inconvenience for local businesses and drivers during the project, but it was a necessity to move Boston forward.
Still loling to "wind blowing through your hair." Thanks SW, you da best! :)