Central Artery Corridor

• Central Artery Corridor
• Urban Ring
• Silver Line
• Charles River Basin
• Green Line Extension
• Red/Blue Line Connector
• Transportation Finance & Reform

Project Background

A Better City has its roots in the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, commonly known as the Big Dig. In fact, ABC was founded as the Artery Business Committee in 1989 specifically to represent the business community's interests on the project.

The Big Dig replaced Boston's elevated Central Artery (I-93) with northbound and southbound underground tunnels, and completed the Ted Williams Tunnel routing the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) under Boston Harbor to East Boston. The project was a feat of engineering innovation, employing a wide variety of creative construction techniques. Never before had so many new methods been employed on one project. In addition, the project deployed construction mitigation and traffic management activities more ambitiously than ever before in the history of the Commonwealth.

Why It's Important

The benefits of the Big Dig extend far beyond the immediate reductions in traffic congestion and delays. Improving traffic flow also improved air quality in the city. Meanwhile, materials excavated in digging the tunnels were used to cap landfills on Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor and elsewhere in Massachusetts.

The project also created new open spaces: on Spectacle Island, in East Boston, along the Charles River, and, most notably, the Rose Kennedy Greenway in downtown Boston. Removing the blighting influence of the elevated highway helped to reconnect Boston's Financial District with the waterfront and created new sites for development. Across the Fort Point Channel from the Greenway, a new highway interchange made possible by the project has opened up the South Boston Waterfront to new development opportunities. The direct link that the extension of I-90 created between the waterfront and Logan Airport has helped make possible the success of the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and spurred development in what is now one of the city's most exciting up-and-coming neighborhoods.

ABC's Role

ABC's founding members recognized early on the many benefits offered by the project. They also foresaw the role they could play, not only in keeping Boston open for business during construction, but also in helping realize the full potential of the project and open spaces that would result from it.

ABC organized over 150 loaned executives into committees to focus on all critical aspects of the project. ABC staff and committees members worked on the design of many different elements of the project, from lighting and signage in the tunnels to the iconic Leonard P. Zakim bridge, which is now echoed in the ABC logo. ABC worked with the utility companies to relocate key resources so as to ensure continuous service throughout the project. ABC also served as a key intermediary between project officials and the City of Boston, convening meetings on everything from construction mitigation to the number of highway ramps that would serve the downtown.

As construction got underway, ABC and its resident engineers were a familiar presence on the job, conducting weekly site visits and issuing "report cards" and incentives to evaluate and reward contractors' performance. ABC was also active politically, weighing in on financing plans and working successfully to defeat ballot initiatives that would have adversely impacted the project. And ABC helped manage crises during the project, forming a task force to deal with leaks in the tunnels and working to mitigate traffic delays when a ceiling panel in the Ted Williams tunnel fell and tragically killed a motorist in 2006.

A more detailed description of ABC's role and contributions to the project can be found in the report Civic Leadership and the Big Dig , by David Luberoff, Executive Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Click here for more on ABC's role in shaping the open space that is now the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

Although the Big Dig project contracts officially ended in December 2007, ABC continues to work with the new Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the City of Boston to see that the remaining issues and commitments of the project are completed. We are working with MassDOT to put in place operations and management protocols that protect the Commonwealth's investment in the project for the long term, and we will continue to monitor operations and maintenance actions in the Metropolitan Highway System to attain high standards of good repair and safety.