Boston Highway Project Said Full of Leaks

[Tab]

OSTON - The Big Dig is riddled with leaks that are dumping millions of gallons of water into the $14.6 billion tunnel system, according to an engineer hired to investigate the cause of a massive leak in September.

Locating and fixing the hundreds of leaks could take up to 10 years, said Jack K. Lemley, a consultant hired by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to investigate the problem. The last major leg of the Big Dig project opened less than a year ago.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041110/ap_on_re_us/big_dig_leaks

[sniffa]

1. oops

nothing to see here

[Mistress Quickly]

11. OK, I'm gonna get flamed

Kennedy and Kerry both helped secure millions of dollars in fed funds for the big dig. My cynical side says both sides are guilty.

I hate when the big dig is brought up for these very reasons. The big dig was a bonanza for a lot of people across party lines. Blech. Cronyism at its highes.

OK, got my suit on, flame away.

[lil-petunia]

2. they spent 14x the original 1.1 bill. and it leaks!?!?

But of course it would, wouldn't it?

[Tempest]

3. Brought to you by Bush supporter Betchel

No surprise here.

[MallRat]

4. Hmmm. And as much as the GOP will want to blame Democrats for this...

...here are the Massachusetts Governors who have actually overseen the Big Dig:

1991-1997: William Weld (R)
1997-2001: Paul Cellucci (R)
2001-2003: Jane Swift (R)
2003-present: Mitt Romney (R)

-MR

[PROGRESSIVE1]

6. kick

[Kathy in Cambridge]

9. And appointed all their cronies to plum positions on the Big Dig board

many of the Republican appointees have already been charged with graft. Gee, what a surprise.

[Dissent Is Patriotic]

5. i wish there was a leak in the republican party.....

a whistleblower, who all of a sudden realizes that they value democracy, and they come forward and admit the voter fraud of this election.

[Dissent Is Patriotic]

7. what kind of a name is mitt?

[Rjnerd]

8. Just think

We paid $32,000 per INCH for that project.

According to a friend, if the road carried the maximum possible traffic, for its design life, it would be a subsidy of $7/trip.

(said friend has a PhD in transportation planning, and was working for the federal DOT at the time)

If you want to get further riled up about what the automobile culture has really cost us, read "Asphalt Nation".

[Tanuki]

10. Iraq conection

Bechtel is right up there with Halliburton as a recipient of billions of dollars in no-bid Iraq war profiteering contracts. They also have a nasty history of involvement during the Saddam Hussein era.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7577

[lil-petunia]

12. pity they forgot how to build up to spec.

But that prepared them for dealing with the cost plus contracts in Iraq.