Menino Seeks Big Dig Help

Facing massive cost overruns and potential safety concerns, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has urged University President Lawrence H. Summers and MIT President Susan Hockfield to help evaluate the management and finances of the Big Dig’s Interstate 93 tunnel.

In a letter to Summers dated March 24, Menino wrote that he wants Harvard to advise the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) on the project.

“I am recommending that Harvard assemble a team of management experts to review any and all relevant Big Dig documents and do the field work necessary to assemble an analysis of both the administrative plans and the actual costs incurred during the construction of the I-93 tunnel,” Menino wrote.

Menino wrote that this analysis would be helpful in dealing with the Big Dig’s safety and budget concerns.

Seth A. Gitell ’91, Menino’s press secretary, said that help from Harvard Business School (HBS) may be particularly useful in reviewing the finances of the project.

He added that he thought HBS would be receptive to the idea of working with the MTA.

“The mayor is using the bully pulpit as the leader of Boston to find solutions,” Gitell said. “That’s why he has called on two of the finest educational institutions in the land to join in an independent review of both the engineering and business aspects of the Big Dig.”

In his letter, Menino did not specify which professors or particular groups he wants to work on the project, saying that he thought the “collective expertise” of the Harvard community could be a valuable resource.

“I am confident that a Harvard-led team could present a thorough and impartial report that would help the public better understand the challenges of cost-recovery, completion and maintenance of the tunnel,” Menino continued in the letter.

At this point, neither Summers’ office nor HBS has responded to Menino’s request.

“The mayor’s request was sent to President Summers’ office, not to HBS. At this point, therefore, there’s nothing for us to add,” said James E. Aisner ’68, Director of Media Relations at HBS.

Mary H. Power, Harvard’s Senior Director of Community Relations, said last week that her office was reviewing Menino’s letter.

Menino also requested outreach from MIT engineers in reviewing construction plans for the I-93 tunnel, which cuts through the heart of downtown Boston.

Last fall, severe flaws were discovered in several of the 2,000 concrete slurry panels which comprise the tunnel’s walls.

Because of these flaws, Big Dig officials from the Bechtel and Parsons Brinckerhoff firms began to probe the integrity of the rest of the tunnel’s slurry panels. As of the end of March, they found flaws in 58 out of the 1,250 panels that they had examined—only two of which were deemed to have serious defects.

The Boson Globe reported earlier this week that a Federal Highway Administration report found that the I-93 tunnel was structurally safe for the time being, despite the many leaks.

Efforts to patch up the leaks are underway, though according to the report the tunnel may always face some problems with leakage.

But the report did not suggest ways to fix the two highly defective panels of the tunnel, and it said that the steel beams of the tunnel’s roof may have long-term problems with corrosion.

According to the MTA website, there are two major components of the Big Dig, officially known as the Central Artery/Tunnel Project.

The first was the construction of the I-93 tunnel to replace the former six-lane elevated highway that had caused traffic congestion in downtown Boston.

The second component is the extension of Interstate 90—the Massachusetts Turnpike—from south of downtown Boston through a tunnel to Logan International Airport.

Started in 1991, the Big Dig is the largest and most technically difficult public works project ever undertaken in the United States. To date, it has cost over $14.6 billion.