Big Dig Research
The Big Dig Research
10/29/2014
The Big Dig was a megaproject in Boston that consisted in rerouting the Central Artery into a 3.5-mile tunnel, building the Ted Williams Tunnel, the Leonard P- Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge over the Charles River, and the Rose Kennedy Greenway in the newly vacated space. The project took 15 years to get done and finally concluded on December 2007. Even though there were several issues and problems along the way that today teach us lessons about managing megaprojects including increase of cost estimations, risk control and collaboration between the involved groups, the Big Dig was a success considering its complexity and technical challenges.
One interesting concept during the Big Dig construction was the way government mitigated risks all along the project. Some examples of mitigation was the promise to not shut down any of the Central Artery’s six lanes during construction, to work with Gillette to not affect its underwater infrastructure, to build temporary roads for the post office’s distribution station or promising environmentalists to preserve as open space three-quarters of the land that the Artery’s demolition would create. All of this was with the purpose of protecting stakeholder’s interests and then make sure there was no local opposition to win federal funding. I find it interesting how because of mitigation efforts, more than 80% of Boston residents and 66% of state residents supported the Big Dig project. This is a great example of the importance of taking into account the needs of all stakeholders involved in order to minimize negative impacts that could later have consequences on the project.
On the other hand, one of the main issues that arose during construction was the poor cost estimation that was made. “ Initial estimates put the Big Dig project at $2.6 billion, but when it was all said and done, the project cost nearly $15 billion.” (Fryer, 2012). There are plenty of reasons why this happened
10/29/2014
The Big Dig was a megaproject in Boston that consisted in rerouting the Central Artery into a 3.5-mile tunnel, building the Ted Williams Tunnel, the Leonard P- Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge over the Charles River, and the Rose Kennedy Greenway in the newly vacated space. The project took 15 years to get done and finally concluded on December 2007. Even though there were several issues and problems along the way that today teach us lessons about managing megaprojects including increase of cost estimations, risk control and collaboration between the involved groups, the Big Dig was a success considering its complexity and technical challenges.
One interesting concept during the Big Dig construction was the way government mitigated risks all along the project. Some examples of mitigation was the promise to not shut down any of the Central Artery’s six lanes during construction, to work with Gillette to not affect its underwater infrastructure, to build temporary roads for the post office’s distribution station or promising environmentalists to preserve as open space three-quarters of the land that the Artery’s demolition would create. All of this was with the purpose of protecting stakeholder’s interests and then make sure there was no local opposition to win federal funding. I find it interesting how because of mitigation efforts, more than 80% of Boston residents and 66% of state residents supported the Big Dig project. This is a great example of the importance of taking into account the needs of all stakeholders involved in order to minimize negative impacts that could later have consequences on the project.
On the other hand, one of the main issues that arose during construction was the poor cost estimation that was made. “ Initial estimates put the Big Dig project at $2.6 billion, but when it was all said and done, the project cost nearly $15 billion.” (Fryer, 2012). There are plenty of reasons why this happened
Bibliography: Farley, D. (2011, August 29). The Big Dig: Boston´s Central Artery/Tunnel Project. Retrieved October 29, 2014. Fryer, J. (2012, February 23). Boston 's "Big Dig" Offers Lessons in Budgeting, Management. Retrieved October 27, 2014. Greiman, V. (2013). Cost Management. In Mega Project Management: Lessons on Risk and Project Management from the Big Dig. John Wiley & Sons. Olivo, A. (2014, May 23). Why costs often creep on public-works projects. Retrieved October 26, 2014.