The Big Dig turns deadly

One of the most interesting things about my 8 years in Boston was watching the progress of the massive construction project to tunnel Interstate 93 under and through downtown Boston--affectionately known as the "Big Dig." When I moved there, I-93 was still a double-decker eyesore cutting off the North End from the rest of the city, but slowly it came down as the massive tunnel project was opened. For the last year or so that I lived there, I could drive to and from work through the tunnels, and I was always a little uneasy doing it. I have mild claustrophobia, and childhood stories about people trapped in the lower level of LA's double-decker freeways during the last big earthquake scared the hell out of me. If I was stuck in traffic down there I got antsy and nervous. And with today's tragedy, my fear is vindicated.

A section of the roof of the tunnel collapsed onto a car, killing the passenger inside. The pictures are horrific and if I still lived there I don't think I could drive through the Big Dig ever again. It's the second most expensive public works project in the world (at $14 billion, only a dam in China is more expensive) and I wonder how many people are going to be terrified to use it? Since it opened there's been water leakage, debris has fallen on cars, and now this. The engineering marvel has turned into a nightmare.