The Big Dig

Highway Teardown Tour | 11. Boston, MA

The final chapter of the Big Dig story is what happened to the land after the highway was gone. Like the rest of the project, it was messy, and other cities would be wise

Highway Teardown Tour | 10. Providence, RI

The Big Dig in Boston was a fluke, a unicorn, something we may never see again. But there are simpler and cheaper ways to rethink our urban highways – Providence, RI trie

Highway Teardown Tour | 9. Philadelphia, PA

Even as cities try to heal the damage of the interstate era, we are also continuing to expand our urban highways, continuing to turn parks and neighborhoods into new lane

Highway Teardown Tour | 8. Baltimore, MD

This episode is about a very different kind of teardown – one that came suddenly, tragically, and without warning. But within this utterly unique story there are some uni

Highway Teardown Tour | 7. Louisville, KY

In the stories we tell about public works, there is a constant bias towards the projects that actually happened, but it’s the apparently ‘failed’ projects that can often

Highway Teardown Tour | 6. Portland, OR

The anti-highway movement, like any movement, has always been a coalition. Different people with different backgrounds and different interests finding a common cause. But

Highway Teardown Tour | 5. Seattle, WA

There is exactly one other American city crazy enough to attempt anything like what Boston did with The Big Dig. That city is Seattle, and they are not done tearing down

Highway Teardown Tour | 4. Austin, TX

How did the Austin City Council find themselves locked in a ‘death match’ over what to do about Interstate 35? Two councilors and two journalists talk through the fraught

Highway Teardown Tour | 3. Rochester, NY

Once the highway is gone, can the divisions these structures created actually be healed? Can the people on either side become neighbors again? Rochester, NY is trying to

Highway Teardown Tour | 2. Syracuse, NY

Is it possible to re-write the Interstate map and send highways around cities instead of through them? Syracuse, NY is doing just that.  Guests: Marie Therese Dominguez,

Highway Teardown Tour | 1. New York, NY

What to do with the BQE? It’s a one of a kind highway in desperate need of repair, but no one can agree how to fix it.  Guests: Polly Trottenberg, Lara Birnback, Stephen

Highway Teardown Tour | Enter Here

Every American city is divided by crumbling old highways. Every city is trying to figure out what to do with them. But even if the problems with these structures are obvi

BONUS: A note from the team

Just dropping in to share some news about the show, and what's coming next. 

The Big Dig | 9. Hearts and Minds

Part 9: It’s been fifty years since the Big Dig was first conceived, thirty years since construction began, more than a dozen years since it was completed – and the final

The Big Dig | 8. I Want Justice for What Happened

Part 8: Just as the project turns the corner towards completion, its entire legacy becomes clouded. The tunnels are leaking, concrete suppliers are being arrested, and ev

The Big Dig | 7. The Turnpike Revolt

Part 7: By the year 2000, the Big Dig has passed through many hands, but in its final years a power struggle spills into public view – over who will determine the project

The Big Dig | 6. The Up Down Charts

Part 6: As work progresses through the 1990s and the tunnels take shape, the true cost of the Big Dig remains unknown to the public, until a series of revelations pulls d

The Big Dig | 5. Hatchet Man vs. the 800 Pound Gorilla

Part 5: In 1991, the Big Dig is handed off to a new leader – the brash, aggressive, hatchet-toting Jim Kerasiotes – who makes it clear he plans to shake things up. The on

The Big Dig | 4. The Double Cross

Part 4: The project faces an unexpected challenge on the home front: resistance from local environmentalists and residents – the very people the Big Dig was intended to p

The Big Dig | 3. All Politics is Local

Part 3: The Big Dig needs federal funding. House Speaker Tip O’Neill is determined to get it; President Ronald Reagan is determined to stop it – setting up a final showdo