How Big is 'The Big Dig'?

There is a huge construction project in Boston that is referred to as "The Big Dig" that you might have heard about in the news. But how big is "The Big Dig"? Read on…

The Central Artery/Tunnel (CAfT) in Boston: The Big Dig.

The Central Artery/Tunnel Program is the largest, most complex and technologically challenging highway program ever attempted in American history. It is the largest federally-funded public work project in history, noted as "bigger than the Panama Canal or the Hoover Dam," consisting of 161 lane-miles (the majority of which is underground at depths up to 120 feet), and requiring excavation of 18 million cubic meters of earth and placement of 4 million cubic yards of concrete (enough to build a foot path three feet wide from Boston to San Francisco and back three times). The casting basis, built on site for construction of the submersed runnel sections at the Fort Point Channel, was large enough to hold three Titanics. The program will dramatically reduce traffic congestion and improve mobility in one of America's oldest and most congested major cities, improve the environment, and lay the groundwork for continued economic growth for millions of New Englanders in the coming new century. While planning commenced in the mid 1980s, actual construction did not start until 1992.

From: A Continuously Changing As-Planned Baseline? John C Livengood, Mark I Anderson. AACE International Transactions. Morgantown: 2005.