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From the AP:
BOSTON -- When the clock runs out on 2007, Boston will quietly mark the end of one of the most tumultuous eras in the city's history: The Big Dig, the nation's most complex and costly highway project, will officially come to an end.
Don't expect any champagne toasts.
After a history marked by engineering triumphs, tunnel leaks, epic traffic jams, last year's death of a motorist crushed by falling concrete and a price tag that soared from $2.6 billion to $14.8 billion, there's little appetite for celebration.
Civil and criminal cases stemming from the July 2006 tunnel ceiling collapse continue, but on Monday the family of Milena Del Valle announced a $6-million settlement with Powers Fasteners, the company that manufactured the epoxy blamed by investigators for the fatal accident. Lawsuits are pending against other Big Dig contractors, and Powers Fasteners still faces a manslaughter indictment.
Officially, Dec. 31 marks the end of the joint venture that teamed contractor Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to build the dizzying array of underground highways, bridges, ramps and new tunnel under Boston Harbor -- all while the city remained open for business.
Don't expect any champagne toasts.
After a history marked by engineering triumphs, tunnel leaks, epic traffic jams, last year's death of a motorist crushed by falling concrete and a price tag that soared from $2.6 billion to $14.8 billion, there's little appetite for celebration.
Civil and criminal cases stemming from the July 2006 tunnel ceiling collapse continue, but on Monday the family of Milena Del Valle announced a $6-million settlement with Powers Fasteners, the company that manufactured the epoxy blamed by investigators for the fatal accident. Lawsuits are pending against other Big Dig contractors, and Powers Fasteners still faces a manslaughter indictment.
Officially, Dec. 31 marks the end of the joint venture that teamed contractor Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to build the dizzying array of underground highways, bridges, ramps and new tunnel under Boston Harbor -- all while the city remained open for business.
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