Logout
What matters to you.
Play Live Radio
Support for GBH is provided by:
Become a GBH sponsor
NEXT UP:
0:00
0:00
The Big Dig

There is a cynicism that hangs over the topic of American infrastructure — whether it’s high-speed rail or off-shore wind — it feels like this country can’t build big things anymore. No one project embodies that cynicism quite like Boston’s Big Dig. Infamous for its ever-increasing price tag, this massive highway tunneling effort became a symbol of waste and corruption. Yet the project delivered on its promise to transform the city. So how did the narrative go so horribly wrong? And what lessons can the Big Dig offer for the ambitious projects of today?

This nine-episode series is produced by GBH News and hosted by Ian Coss. New episodes come out every Wednesday. Listen below and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.

Support for GBH is provided by:
Become a GBH sponsor

Episodes

  • We Were Wrong Podcast Art

    Part 1: We Were Wrong

    There is a strange irony behind the Big Dig: the most expensive highway project ever built in America began with a man who hated highways. This is the story of Fred Salvucci’s journey into activism, during what is perhaps the most transformative anti-highway movement in the nation’s history.
    The Big Dig
  • Unholy Alliance

    Part 2: Unholy Alliance

    In the early 1970s a radical idea took shape: tearing down Boston’s elevated downtown highway, and rebuilding it underground. But making it happen will require a grand bargain between two competing tunnel projects, and between bitter enemies.
    The Big Dig
  • All Politics is Local

    Part 3: All Politics is Local

    The Big Dig needs federal funding. House Speaker Tip O’Neill is determined to get it; President Ronald Reagan is determined to stop it – setting up a final showdown in one of the great political rivalries of the 20th century.
    The Big Dig
  • NEWS_BigDig_Episode4_PodcastArt_2000x2000_F1.jpg

    Part 4: The Double Cross

    The project faces an unexpected challenge on the home front: resistance from local environmentalists and residents – the very people the Big Dig was intended to please. Now, they say that Fred Salvucci has lost his way.
    The Big Dig
  • NEWS_BigDig_Episode5_PodcastArt_2000x2000_F1.jpg

    Part 5: Hatchet Man vs. the 800 Pound Gorilla

    In 1991, the Big Dig is handed off to a new leader – the brash, aggressive, hatchet-toting Jim Kerasiotes – who makes it clear he plans to shake things up. The one thing he can’t shake is the equally aggressive private company managing the project. Now they have to work together.
    The Big Dig
  • 22E8D3CF-5CD4-4657-8FB9-EB4AED36B426.jpeg

    Part 6: The Up Down Charts

    As work progresses through the 1990s and the tunnels take shape, the true cost of the Big Dig remains unknown to the public, until a series of revelations pulls down the curtain and shakes confidence in the whole project.
    The Big Dig
  • NEWS_BigDig_Episode7_PodcastArt_2000x2000_F1.png

    Part 7: The Turnpike Revolt

    By the year 2000, the Big Dig has passed through many hands, but in its final years a power struggle spills into public view – over who will determine the project’s fate, and who will take responsibility for its mistakes.
    The Big Dig
  • NEWS_BigDig_Episode8_PodcastArt_2000x2000_F1.jpg

    Part 8: I Want Justice for What Happened

    Just as the project turns the corner towards completion, its entire legacy becomes clouded. The tunnels are leaking, concrete suppliers are being arrested, and everyday drivers are forced to wonder: are these tunnels safe?
    The Big Dig
  • NEWS_BigDig_Episode9_PodcastArt_2000x2000_F1.jpg

    Part 9: Hearts and Minds

    It’s been fifty years since the Big Dig was first conceived, thirty years since construction began, more than a dozen years since it was completed – and the final twist is: the project has largely delivered on its promises. How do we reconcile that reality with the scandal and outrage we’ve heard so much about?
    The Big Dig

Credits:
Producers: Ian Coss and Isabel Hibbard
Editor: Lacy Roberts
Editorial Supervisor: Stephanie Leydon
Fact-checking Review: Lisa Wardle, Elena Eberwein, Sam Dieringer and Jeb Sharp
Music, mixing and sound design: Ian Coss
Project Manager: Mei Lei
Archival Support: Peter Higgins
Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

More about The Big Dig