[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 135 (Saturday, November 20, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11679-S11683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CONTINUING SAGA OF BOSTON'S BIG DIG

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I come to the floor to discuss the 
continuing saga of Boston's big dig, an issue I have been involved in 
now for many years. As usual, the news is not good.
  As most of my colleagues know, the Central Artery/Ted Williams Tunnel 
Project in Boston, more commonly known as the big dig, apparently has 
sprung a leak or, more accurately, hundreds of leaks.
  The two independent engineers brought in by the Massachusetts 
Turnpike Authority are still assessing the extent of the problem. But 
so far, over 400 leaks have been identified that they say could take a 
decade--and millions of dollars--to fix. And on Wednesday, the Boston 
Globe reported that documents obtained by the newspaper indicate there 
are ``thousands of ceiling and wall fissures, water damage to steel 
supports and fireproofing systems, and overloaded drainage equipment''.
  It comes as no surprise that all of the parties involved in this 
latest scandal are holding each other, but not themselves, accountable. 
Modern Continental Construction Company, which performed the work where 
the 8-inch ``blow out'' leak occurred in the northbound section of the 
I-93 tunnel in September, believes the project's engineer, and joint 
venture of Bechtel Corporation and Parsons Brinckerhoff, is responsible 
because of faulty design work. The Turnpike Authority insists that even 
though a senior agency official was notified of the leak problem in 
2001, the contractors and the project engineer are the responsible 
parties. The Governor believes that Turnpike Authority bears 
responsibility and has asked for Chairman Amorello's resignation. With 
all the finger-pointing, I am concerned that the taxpayers could end up 
footing at least part of the bill for repairs.
  I do not intend to allow this to happen. The newly-discovered leaks 
are just another in a long list of costly failures in the continuing 
saga of the bid dig.
  The Central Artery Tunnel Project was conceived in 1981 and received 
initial approval in 1985. Construction began in 1991 with a target 
completion date of December 1998. I repeat, the target completion date 
of the Central Artery Tunnel Project, known as the big dig, was 
December 1998. As I calculate, it is now 6 years later. Over the 
intervening years, the completion date slipped nearly 7 years. The 
current forecast is for the project to be completed between May and 
November of 2005.
  As delays for the project mounted over the years, the costs of the 
project spiraled out of control. According to this chart, it was 
estimated in 1985 that the big dig would cost $2.6 billion. When the 
project is finally completed next year, the total cost is projected to 
be $14.6 billion, roughly 5.5 times the original estimate. That does 
not count the newly discovered leaks and the repairs which, in the view 
of some, would take 10 years to fix.
  We now know that billions of the cost overruns are attributable to 
mistakes and deliberate misstatements by the project managers. We have 
had over 20 reports from the Department of Transportation Inspector 
General which has tracked this very carefully. There have been 
deliberate misstatements by the project managers, made not only to the 
people of Massachusetts but also to the Congress of the United States. 
Several years of low-ball cost estimates finally caught up with the big 
dig in the year 2000.
  In January of that year, the Turnpike Authority submitted its annual 
financial plan, estimating the cost of the big dig at $10.8 billion.
  The following month, on the same day the Federal Railroad 
Administration accepted the plan as valid, the Turnpike Authority 
announced the project would cost $12.2 billion, or an estimated 
additional $1.4 billion.
  Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff blamed the increase on unforeseen cost 
increases and shortening the construction schedule by 2 years. But a 
series of articles by the Boston Globe concluded that the majority of 
the $1.4 billion cost overrun was due to design errors by Bechtel/
Parsons Brinckerhoff. In one instance, the engineering firms failed to 
include the FleetCenter, the sports center home to the Boston Bruins 
and Boston Celtics, in the designs for the project. Months of 
construction took place before the design flaw was detected. This 
mistake alone cost taxpayers $991,000.
  The Department of Transportation Inspector General and all members of 
the Commerce Committee are aware of the incredible work the Department 
of Transportation Inspector General has done, which issued 20 reports 
on the big dig, and was highly skeptical of the project managers' cost 
projections, and concluded in May 2000 that the project's managers were 
``well aware that costs were increasing significantly'' and 
``deliberately withheld'' information about cost increases in the 1998 
and 1999 financial plans.
  That statement by the Department of Transportation Inspector General 
bears repeating. It concludes that the project's managers were well 
aware that costs were increasing significantly and deliberately 
withheld information--that includes the Congress of the United States--
about cost increases in the 1998 and 1999 financial plans.
  Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission determined the 
Turnpike Authority and its former

[[Page S11680]]

chairman, James Kerasiotes, had violated the securities laws by failing 
to disclose to investors during the 1999 bond offerings that they knew 
of the more than $1 billion in cost overruns related to the project. 
The Securities and Exchange Commission order noted:

       Reasonable investors would have considered project cost 
     increases in excess of $1 billion to be an important factor 
     in the investment decisionmaking process . . . In addition to 
     being a substantial amount in absolute terms, the cost 
     increases equal to approximately 3% of the total revenues of 
     the Commonwealth estimated for fiscal year 2000 and 2001 . . 
     . and 9% of the total Commonwealth debt load as of January 1, 
     1991, and exceeded the amount of the Commonwealth's rainy day 
     fund.

  After the revelations in 2000 about the rising cost of the project, I 
sought and achieved an overall Federal cap for the big dig of $8.549 
billion in fiscal year 2001 transportation appropriations legislation. 
The cap was also incorporated in a project partnership agreement 
entered into June 22, 2000, by the Federal Railroad Administration and 
the Commonwealth to improve management and oversight of the big dig.
  As a result of the cap, the Federal taxpayers should be protected 
from additional project costs. Without the cap, the Federal share of 
the big dig could have been as much as $12 to $13 billion.
  Efforts are underway to recover project costs associated with change 
orders, led by retired probate judge Edward M. Ginsburg at the Turnpike 
Authority. The cost recovery team, as of March 2004, identified 634 
potential cost recovery items valued at over $744 million, but today 
the team has only recovered $3.5 million from one design consultant and 
none has been refunded from Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, although the 
Turnpike Authority and the Commonwealth have filed suit against the 
joint venture, seeking $146 million in damages. Eventually, perhaps, 
the taxpayers will recoup some modest portion of the costly mistakes.
  Since Federal oversight of the big dig by the Department of 
Transportation Inspector General and the Federal Railroad 
Administration was strengthened in 2000, the big dig has submitted 
realistic financial plans and construction has preceded relatively on 
schedule. Even as portions of the project were being completed, 
taxpayer dollars were being improperly spent. In 2002, the Turnpike 
Authority spent $373,000 to host walking tours of the bridge and the I-
93 tunnel. Later that year, the Turnpike Authority threw a $1 million 
party to celebrate the opening of the Leonard P. Zaim Bunker Hill 
Bridge. Nearly half the expenses, $450,000, were paid for with public 
funds.
  In December 2003, Chairman Amorello's plans to celebrate the opening 
of the southbound I-93 tunnel with a concert by the Boston Pops for 
2,000 invited guests caused an uproar. While the $250,000 cost of the 
concert could have been donated by Citizens Bank, Chairman Amorello 
reportedly planned to use up to $200,000 in public funds for security 
and site preparation. Ultimately, the event was cancelled, but only 
after Citizens Bank, a major sponsor of the event, complained about 
diverting highway beautification funds to help pay for the event.
  It is also the matter of the big dig's headquarters building. In 
1992, they purchased their headquarters building for $29 million, $26 
million of which was financed with Federal highway funds. The 
Commonwealth now plans to sell the building and expects to see $97 
million net of transaction costs. The Federal Railroad Administration 
has concluded that Massachusetts may treat the proceeds from the sale 
as State funds, even though the Federal Government funded 90 percent of 
the purchase. And the Government Accountability Office has concluded 
that the Federal share of the proceeds from the sale of the 
headquarters building does not count against the statutory Federal cap.
  I remain firmly committed to protecting Federal taxpayers from 
incurring any additional expenditure for the big dig, including costs 
associated with the sale of property, fixing hundreds of leaks in the 
tunnels, or celebrating the completion of a project not well done.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that articles from the Boston 
Globe and the Boston Herald be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From The Boston Herald, Nov. 14, 2004]

               With Tunnel All Wet, Builder Drains State

                            (By Casey Ross)

       A confidential agreement that paid the Big Dig's lead 
     contractor for additional work on a defective section of the 
     Interstate 93 tunnel also included a hefty cash advance and 
     money for the leaky Fort Point Channel tunnel, according to 
     court documents and a former state official.
       The agreement, a $59 million payout authorized by top 
     Massachusetts Turnpike Authority officials in 2002, paid 
     Modern Continental without demanding compensation for its 
     faulty work, the court papers say.
       ``The Authority cannot protect (Modern Continental) from 
     itself or place the interests of the (contractor) before the 
     interests of . . . the commonwealth and its taxpayers,'' 
     former Turnpike board member Christy Mihos said in a 2002 
     letter to Chairman Matthew Amorello.
       The payout is significant because top Turnpike Authority 
     officials knew of Modern's faulty work--both in the Fort 
     Point Channel and the Interstate 93 tunnel--and did nothing 
     to hold the contractor accountable, former officials say.
       The payout also could jeopardize the state's efforts to 
     recover costs for repairs to hundreds of leaks in the 
     tunnels--an assertion Turnpike Authority officials deny 
     because of contract language they say gives them broad 
     collection powers.
       In court papers responding to a lawsuit filed by Mihos--the 
     suit alleges Amorello and a Turnpike lawyer refused to give 
     him access to records--Turnpike officials say the $59 million 
     agreement was necessary to allow financially troubled Modem 
     Continental to finish its work.
       Lawyers for the Turnpike also say Mihos was twice given an 
     opportunity to review the agreement.
       Money that was paid for the Fort Point Channel tunnel, 
     which sprung a massive leak in September 2001, capped the 
     amount spent on that contract at $417 million, a 39 percent 
     increase over its original price.
       Before reaching that agreement, Pike officials launched a 
     complaint investigated by the Attorney General's office that 
     Modern Continental had filed false monetary claims for tunnel 
     work.
       But Mihos said top Turnpike Authority officials, by 
     authorizing a payout in 2002 that paid for work not yet 
     performed, did little to hold the contractor accountable.
       ``We do not work for (Modern Continental), they work for 
     us,'' Mihos wrote to Amorello. ``. . . We cannot and must not 
     place the (Big Dig) or its funds in jeopardy.''
                                  ____


                [From The Boston Globe, Sept. 16, 2004]

  Artery Tunnel Springs Leak, Traffic Snarled; Big Dig Closes Lanes, 
                  Seeks Cause, Aims For Full Reopening

                     (By David Abel and Mac Daniel)

       Water gushed into the Central Artery's northbound tunnel 
     for hours yesterday from a small breach in the eastern wall, 
     backing up afternoon rush-hour traffic for miles and leaving 
     Big Dig officials at a loss to explain where the water was 
     coming from and what had caused the leak.
       In the first couple of hours after the leak was reported, 
     about 1:45 p.m., officials closed two lanes in the northbound 
     tunnel and all onramps from the Massachusetts Turnpike. 
     Traffic on the Southeast Expressway backed up to Quincy, and 
     there were long delays on the turnpike approaching the 
     interchange.
       Big Dig officials said at a late afternoon press conference 
     that they hoped to reopen all the tunnel's northbound lanes 
     by this morning's commute. But they said they did not know 
     how long it would take to find the source of the leak and 
     repair the damage, and they could not guarantee that work 
     would be finished in time.
       By late afternoon, officials could not provide an estimate 
     of how much water had flowed into the tunnel. For safety and 
     to soak up the water, highway workers piled sandbags along 
     the eastern wall and poured sand in the right lane.
       Officials and engineers were so uncertain about the origin 
     of the water that some tasted it. The likely source, they 
     said, was groundwater, because that portion of the tunnel 
     sits 110 feet underground.
       One theory for the leak was that sand or clay got into the 
     poured concrete in the tunnel's slurry wall during 
     construction, said Sean O'Neill, a spokesman for the 
     Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which oversees the $14.6 
     billion Big Dig project.
       O'Neill said it is possible that groundwater ate away at 
     the sand and carved a small leak in the wall.
       During construction of the Big Dig, engineers and workers 
     built the slurry walls by first digging a series of deep 
     trenches, which were filled with a clay substance. Concrete 
     was then pumped underneath, displacing the clay and forming 
     the tunnel's concrete walls.
       Keith Sibley, director of construction for Bechtel/Parsons 
     Brinckerhoff, the consortium responsible for major portions 
     of the Big Dig, sought during the press conference to 
     reassure drivers and state officials that there were no 
     safety concerns.
       ``Structurally, there's no problem with the tunnel at 
     all,'' he said.
       But state officials said they would hold the consortium 
     responsible for all costs of sealing the leak and repairing 
     the wall.
       ``Believe me, as a customer of the product we constructed, 
     I'm not happy right now,'' said Matthew J. Amorello, chairman 
     of the

[[Page S11681]]

     Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which oversees the $14.6 
     billion Big Dig project. ``It's unacceptable, and we're going 
     to deal with it.''
       Bechtel/Parsons officials said last night that Modern 
     Continental, the contractor that built the tunnel's slurry 
     walls 10 years ago, would pay for the repairs.
       ``Modern Continental has accepted responsibility and will 
     make all the repairs as quickly as possible,'' said Andrew 
     Paven, a Bechtel/Parsons spokesman.
       But last night, a spokeswoman for Modern Continental said 
     that no such agreement had been reached. ``The cause of the 
     leak has not been determined, and no conversation about the 
     cost of the repairs has taken place,'' said the spokeswoman, 
     Lorraine Marino.
       About 7 last night, Big Dig engineers met in a office at 
     the project's headquarters on Kneeland Street to figure out 
     how to plug the hole without making the problem worse. The 
     engineers said that removing tiles along the wall could 
     expand the leak.
       Officials were notified about the leak when motorists began 
     reporting water seeping through Jersey barriers along the 
     northbound tunnel's eastern wall.
       Shortly after those reports, with the water flow at its 
     heaviest, officials closed two lanes of the northbound 
     tunnel, which produced the miles-long backup.
       To ease congestion, officials opened the Haul Road off 
     Interstate 93 north at 3:30 p.m., a road normally limited to 
     commercial traffic. At the same time, they closed the 
     entrance into the tunnel from Congress Street. And 15 minutes 
     later, officials closed all onramps from the turnpike leading 
     to northbound tunnel.
       By early evening, the closing was reduced to one lane, and 
     traffic was flowing. So was the water, which continued to 
     form a small pool in the right lane of the tunnel about a 
     quarter mile south of Exit 23 to Government Center.
       A stream of water trickled between sandbags and rippled in 
     a puddle about 5 inches deep and two cars long in the right 
     lane.
       Officials said they found an 8-inch hole in the slurry 
     wall, one of the Big Dig's signature innovations, and sent a 
     special team of construction workers to inspect whether the 
     damage was more extensive.
       Officials said there was no connection between yesterday's 
     leak and a water leak last winter, when ice formed on the 
     road surface in the northbound and southbound tunnels. The 
     ice was blamed on the presence old steel footings from the 
     elevated Central Artery, which allowed rainwater to seep into 
     the tunnel.
       While construction of the Big Dig is nearing an end, the 
     process for determining who should pay for the cost overruns 
     in the project is ongoing.
       In February 2003, Amorello appointed Edward M. Ginsburg, a 
     retired state judge, to lead a review of the project with an 
     eye to holding contractors responsible for mistakes. To date, 
     Ginsburg's team of lawyers and engineers has identified more 
     than 700 construction issues and has recovered $3.5 million 
     from a design firm.
       The Ginsburg team has filed several lawsuits against other 
     design firms, including one seeking $150 million from 
     Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the project's overall manager.
       Last night, Ginsburg said he could not comment on the leak, 
     but promised an aggressive investigation on behalf of 
     taxpayers.
       ``We will definitely get all the preliminary reports and 
     send our people in to look at this,'' he said. ``This 
     shouldn't happen, and somebody has got to make an 
     explanation, and I can assure you it is not going to get by 
     us. We will look at this, absolutely.''
                                  ____


                 [From the Boston Globe, Nov. 17, 2004]

     List of Tunnel Troubles Grows Longer, More Leaks, Damage Found

                 (By Raphael Lewis and Sean P. Murphy)

       The Big Dig's tunnel leak problem is far more costly and 
     extensive than Massachusetts Turnpike officials and private 
     contractors have acknowledged, involving thousands of ceiling 
     and wall fissures, water damage to steel supports and 
     fireproofing systems, and overloaded drainage equipment, 
     according to documents obtained by the Globe.
       Turnpike officials and private-sector managers Bechtel/
     Parsons Brinckerhoff have together signed off on at least $10 
     million in cost overruns to repair the leaks and water damage 
     since early 2001, the records show, and the problem persists.
       Turnpike officials did not acknowledge the leak problem 
     until it was revealed in the Globe last week.
       All this occurred while engineers worked frantically to 
     come up with a permanent solution for waterproofing the 
     tunnels, an effort that continues today, according to project 
     documents.
       The problem stems in part from an apparent projectwide 
     failure in the original design of the waterproofing system, a 
     critical feature of a tunnel that sits almost entirely 
     beneath the salty water table of downtown Boston. In a 
     confidential report commissioned by the Turnpike in 2001 by 
     the auditing firm Deloitte & Touche, project officials 
     acknowledged that ``the original design provided insufficient 
     protection against leaking'' at the top of tunnel walls.
       With construction of the tunnels well underway and with 
     water seeping in through joints between the roof and tunnel 
     walls and between panels, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff 
     abandoned its initial waterproofing system, a membrane 
     applied to the roof and walls that had proved incapable of 
     stopping water. Contractors were ordered to apply a spray-on 
     application instead.
       Doug Hanchett spokesman for the Massachusetts Turnpike 
     Authority, which oversees the Big Dig said that the agency 
     has made progress in controlling the leak problem and that 
     the authority is working to recoup costs from contractors.
       ``This issue is something that will resolve itself through 
     the construction process, and we fully expect that the 
     contractors will perform the waterproofing work, as required 
     in their contracts,'' Hanchett said.
       Earlier this month, a team of independent engineers hired 
     to investigate a massive leak that erupted in September said 
     the project was riddled with more than 400 leaks throughout 
     the tunnel system.
       However, the documents obtained by the Globe show nearly 
     700 leaks in just one 1,000-foot section of the Interstate 93 
     tunnels beneath South Station. The documents include 
     memorandums, diagrams, photographs, and correspondence 
     pertaining to the Central Artery tunnels.
       According to documents detailing modification to tunnel 
     finishing contracts, which were obtained by the Globe, the 
     Turnpike Authority and Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff 
     established a Leak Task Force in early 2001 and is now 
     allocating $250,000 a month for the firm McCourt/Obiyashi to 
     send repair teams into virtually all sections of the I-93 
     tunnels. McCourt/Obiyashi's initial contract, which began in 
     1999, had no such provisions for leak repair, but by mid-2001 
     the firm was extensively engaged in that effort, the 
     documents show.
       For example, in August 2003, tunnel officials, approved a 
     $205,000 plan to replace 300 wall panel connectors in the 
     downtown tunnels because ``excessive tunnel leakage with high 
     salt content has caused unacceptable corrosion.''
       In another instance in March 2001, McCourt/Obiyashi was 
     told to extend tubes that contained liquid concrete grout for 
     leak repairs throughout the tunnels. That work cost $300,000.
       George J. Tamaro, an independent engineer hired by the 
     Turnpike Authority to investigate the source of the massive 
     tunnel leak that erupted in September, said that the roof's 
     waterproofing membrane didn't work as intended and that 
     engineers have used concrete grout for several years to try 
     to plug the leaks. He said problems with leaks seemed to 
     occur when the weather becomes colder.
       Tamaro and another engineer hired to investigate the 
     situation, Jack K. Lemley, said a permanent solution to 
     address the problem is needed, or workers will spend years, 
     perhaps even a decade, patching and repatching the leaks.
       Anthony Lancellotti, a Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff design 
     executive, said that ``there are a lot of theories'' on the 
     cause of the leaks and that he is not allowed to discuss them 
     because of ongoing investigations by Bechtel/Parsons 
     Brinckerhoff, the Turnpike Authority, the state attorney 
     general's office, and the US Department of Transportation's 
     inspector general.
       But Lancellotti insisted that there has been a dramatic 
     drop in the number of leaks due to ongoing repairs. He said 
     that using grout to close leaks is a hit-or-miss proposition. 
     Workers drilling into the concrete to inject the grout are 
     never sure the holes they have drilled intersect with the 
     path of the leak.
       ``Drilling is exploratory,'' he said. ``You have to do it 
     several times. You chase leaks; that's the nature of the 
     business. But we have seen a dramatic improvement.''
       Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, who said his office is 
     meeting regularly with engineers trying to get refunds for 
     shoddy work, predicted that the cost of fixing the roof leaks 
     will be much more than the $10 million already spent by the 
     Turnpike Authority, and he called on the contractors 
     involved, including Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, to cover 
     those costs.
       In addition to the $10 million allocated so far, project 
     construction contractors who built the tunnels have on their 
     own spent at least $6 million plugging leaks, according to 
     construction industry officials who spoke on condition on 
     anonymity.
       Some of the contractors are now pressing hard to be 
     compensated by the state for those expenses.
       One firm, Modern Continental, has submitted a bill of 
     roughly $4 million for leak repair work, and is asserting 
     that the leakage problem is the result of a flawed design by 
     Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff.
       But the Turnpike Authority and Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff 
     have insisted that the design was appropriate.
                                  ____


                [From the Boston Herald, Sept. 17, 2004]

           SpongeBob Tunnel Simply Leaving Taxpayers All Wet

                            (By Howie Carr)

       They're going to make a movie about the Big Dig.
       They'll call it ``The Poseidon Adventure.'' Or maybe `` 15 
     Billion Dollars Under the Sea.'' Or ``Voyage to the Bottom of 
     the Tunnel.''
       Another day, another flood. And Wednesday was a dry day, 
     too, as you well recall, if you were caught in the traffic 
     jam for two or three hours. It hadn't rained in a week, but 
     suddenly there was a flood. It was a small gusher, a Newton 
     Lower Falls type of cascade. But you have to wonder, how long 
     until we get a Niagara down there in the Liberty Tunnel?

[[Page S11682]]

       In case you've forgotten, the Big Dig cost $14.6 billion.
       And it leaks. It has more holes in it than a ``60 Minutes'' 
     investigation.
       Riding into the tunnel is like going through a car wash, 
     only you can't get a wax job. The next time they have a grand 
     opening ribbon-cutting down there, they should forget the 
     elephants and invite SpongeBob SquarePants instead.
       How many more times do we have to endure Fat Matt Amorello, 
     the bloated hack who runs the Big Dig, at a press conference, 
     flopping like a fish, as SpongeBob would say? Talk about 
     nautical nonsense.
       To quote Fat Matt: ``I'm not a happy customer.''
       ``I didn't know he was a customer,'' said Christy Mihos, 
     the former Pike board member. ``I thought he was the boss.''
       Only when there's a ribbon to be cut.
       ``The Big Dig,'' Amorello says in one of the Pike's many 
     four-color handouts, ``has evolved into the single largest, 
     most complex highway project on the planet.''
       And it leaks.
       Yesterday, Fat Matt was talking about a ``forensic'' 
     investigation. What a joke. After years of cost overruns and 
     water overflows, Fat Matt has got about as much credibility 
     as Dan Rather talking about his ``unimpeachable sources.''
       Why won't Gov. Mitt Romney fire Fat Matt? That's been the 
     question for a long time now. Of course, Mitt needs ``just 
     cause''--that was the ruling of the SJC in the firings of 
     Christy Mihos and Jordan Levy by then-Gov. Jane Swift. But 
     how much more inepitude can Mitt tolerate? This guy Fat Matt 
     is a walking blister.
       But after this latest flood, it appears that there may be 
     some method to Mitt's madness. These leaks, after all, are 
     just going to keep coming, no matter what they say. So Mitt 
     needs a . . . hostage, someone he can whack when the time 
     comes. Remember Jim Kerasiotes?
       If--when?--the day comes that you need Noah's Ark to get 
     around down there, someone's going to have to take two in the 
     hat. And Mitt can say, hey, I tried to blow out this 
     bindlestiff, but the Legislature refused to pass my highway 
     reorganization plan.
       Mitt's good at this kind of in-fighting. Look at the 
     convention in July. He washed his hands of that fiasco pretty 
     well. He offered the DNC the use of the convention center in 
     South Boston, and then when the city shut down for a week, 
     Mitt said, that's too bad, I wish they'd taken me up on my 
     offer.
       Now Mitt wants to run for president, and the last thing he 
     needs to do is preside over a flooded-out, $15 billion 
     tunnel. Better Trav should take the hit.
       Of course, whenever Fat Matt's minions talk about this 
     fiasco, they mention how much money they've gotten back from 
     the contractors. So far, on a $14.6 billion project, they've 
     recovered $3.5 million.
       That would be like if you hired a guy to fix the roof on 
     your house for $10,000, and the first time it rained, the 
     water was coming into every nook and cranny in your home. And 
     then the contractor told you, hey, that's a shame, so I'm 
     going to give you a refund--here's $30.
       Why don't we just rename the tunnel after SpongeBob 
     SquarePants? Absorbent and yellow and porous is he--just like 
     the tunnel.
                                  ____


      [From the Associated Press State & Local Wire, Nov. 10, 2004

         Big Dig Officials: Taxpayers Won't Pay to Repair Leaks

                            By Steve Leblanc

       Boston--The Big Dig is riddled with leaks that are dumping 
     millions of gallons of water into the $14.6 billion tunnel 
     system, according to an engineer hired to investigate the 
     cause of a massive leak in September.
       Locating and fixing the hundreds of leaks could take up to 
     10 years, said Jack K. Lemley, a consultant hired by the 
     Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to investigate the problem.
       ``There is no public safety issue,'' Turnpike Authority 
     Chairman Matthew Amorello said Wednesday, adding that the 
     tunnels remain structurally sound, and the drainage system is 
     keeping water off the roadways.
       Lemley told The Boston Globe that repairing September's 
     leak alone would require two months and lane closures. But 
     Amorello said that taxpayers and motorists who pay tolls will 
     not foot the bill for repairs.
       Lemley's team also found documents showing that managers of 
     Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the private consortium that 
     managed the project, were aware that the wall breached this 
     fall was faulty when it was built in the late 1990s, but did 
     not order it replaced and did not notify state officials.
       Retired judge Edward M. Ginsburg, leader of a state-
     appointed team reviewing overcharges by Big Dig contractors, 
     said he has spoken to Attorney General Tom Reilly about 
     filing a lawsuit targeting Bechtel and Modern Continental, 
     the contractor that built the wall section that leaked in 
     September.
       ``I can honestly say we were shocked,'' Ginsburg told the 
     Globe. ``I can assure you we're going to make sure there is a 
     thorough investigation.''
       Turnpike Authority member Jordan Levy promised to make the 
     contractors pay for repairing the leaks. mat.
       ``I'm outraged and dismayed at the quality of some of this 
     work,'' he said. ``We are not going to let anyone off the 
     mat.
       ``If there was a cover-up involved in this, I would expect 
     the attorney general would bring this before a grand jury to 
     determine if there is criminal intent here,'' he said.
       Levy said either the Bechtel project was incompetent or 
     there was ``malfeasance at the highest level.''
       ``I don't think they're stupid,'' he said.
       Levy said the scope of the problem was ``beyond 
     comprehension,'' given the years and billions of tax dollars 
     spent.
       He added that more tax dollars would be spent to fix the 
     problem, ``over my dead body.''
       In September, an eight-inch leak sprung in the northbound 
     lanes of the Interstate 93 tunnel and caused 10-mile backups 
     on the highway.
       Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff issued a statement Tuesday 
     saying:
       ``While the cause of the September water leak in the 
     northbound tunnel remains under investigation, it would be 
     inappropriate for us to comment on specific allegations. ... 
     In a tunnel of this construction type, seepage is inevitable, 
     but is mitigated by proper engineering and maintenance 
     programs, which have been planned for and are in place. The 
     tunnel is structurally sound.''
       Modern Continental, the largest contractor on the project, 
     also issued a statement.
       ``The results of the investigation will conclude that 
     Modern's workmanship was in accordance with contract plans 
     and specifications,'' it said.
       Ginsburg said his team will demand that the contractors fix 
     the problem at no cost to taxpayers. He could not estimate 
     the cost.
       The September leak was the latest in a series of 
     embarrassing episodes in the two-decade construction of the 
     Big
       Dig, formally called the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel 
     project.
       In January, ice formed in the tunnels, forcing officials to 
     close lanes and jamming up traffic. And in 2001, a leak 
     spouted from under one of six concrete tubes being put in 
     place to carry Interstate 90 through the Fort Point Channel.
       The Big Dig replaced the elevated Central Artery of 
     Interstate 93 with underground tunnels through downtown
       Boston. It also connected Interstate 90--the Massachusetts 
     Turnpike--to Logan International Airport, and added the Ted 
     Williams Tunnel beneath Boston Harbor.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, on November 17, there was an article in 
the Boston Globe: ``List Of Tunnel Troubles Grows Longer, More Leaks, 
Damage Found.'' I will quote parts of the article:

       The problem stems in part from an apparent projectwide 
     failure in the original design of the waterproofing system. . 
     . .
       Earlier this month, a team of independent engineers hired 
     to investigate a massive leak that erupted in September said 
     the project was riddled with more than 400 leaks throughout 
     the tunnel system.
       However, the documents obtained by the Globe show nearly 
     700 leaks in just one 1,000-foot section of the Interstate 93 
     tunnels beneath South Station. . . .
       In addition to the $10 million allocated so far, project 
     construction contractors who built the tunnels have on their 
     own spent at least $6 million plugging leaks, according to 
     construction industry officials who spoke on condition of 
     anonymity.
       Some of the contractors are now pressing hard to be 
     compensated by the state for those expenses.
       One firm, Modern Continental, has submitted a bill of 
     roughly $4 million for leak repair work, and is asserting 
     that the leakage problem is the result of a flawed design by 
     Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff. . . .
       George J. Tamaro, an independent engineer hired by the 
     Turnpike Authority to investigate the source of the massive 
     tunnel leak that erupted in September, said that the roof's 
     waterproofing membrane didn't work as intended and the 
     engineers have used concrete grout for several years to try 
     to plug the leaks. . . .
       Tamaro and another engineer hired to investigate the 
     situation, Jack K. Lemley, said a permanent solution to 
     address the problem is needed, or workers will spend years, 
     perhaps even a decade, patching and repatching the leaks.

  An article in the Associated Press:

       The team of consulting engineers also said it found 
     documents showing that managers of Bechtel/Parsons 
     Brinckerhoff, the private consortium that oversaw the 
     project, were aware that the wall was faulty when it was 
     built in the late 1990s but did not tell the Turnpike 
     Authority about it.

  Another article in the Associated Press:

       Locating and fixing the hundreds of leaks could take up to 
     10 years, said Jack K. Lemley, a consultant hired by the 
     Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. . . .
       Lemley's team also found documents showing that managers of 
     Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the private consortium that 
     managed the project, were aware that the wall breached this 
     fall was faulty when it was built in the late 1990s, but did 
     not order it replaced and did not notify state officials.
       Retired Judge Edward M. Ginsburg, leader of a state-
     appointed team reviewing overcharges by Big Dig contractors, 
     said he has spoken to Attorney General Tom Reilly about 
     filing a lawsuit targeting Bechtel and Modern Continental, 
     the contractor that built the wall section that leaked in 
     September.

[[Page S11683]]

       ``I can honestly say we were shocked,'' Ginsburg told the 
     Globe. ``I can assure you we're going to make sure there is a 
     thorough investigation.''
  Here is one in the Boston Herald:

       They're going to make a movie about the Big Dig.
       They'll call it ``The Poseidon Adventure.'' Or maybe ``15 
     Billion Dollars Under the Sea.'' Or ``Voyage to the Bottom of 
     the Tunnel.''
       Another day, another flood. And Wednesday was a dry day, 
     too, as you well recall, if you were caught in the traffic 
     jam for two or three hours. It hadn't rained in a week, but 
     suddenly there was a flood. It was a small gusher, a Newton 
     Lower Falls type of cascade. But you have to wonder, how long 
     until we get a Niagara down there in the Liberty Tunnel?
       . . . In case you've forgotten, the Big Dig cost $14.6 
     billion.
       And it leaks. It has more holes in it than a ``60 Minutes'' 
     investigation.
       Riding into the tunnel is like going through a car wash, 
     only you can't get a wax job. The next time they have a grand 
     opening ribbon-cutting down there, they should forget the 
     elephants and invite SpongeBob SquarePants instead.
       How many more times do we have to endure Fat Matt Amarillo, 
     the bloated hack who runs the Big Dig, at a press conference, 
     flopping like a fish, as SpongeBob would say? Talk about 
     nautical nonsense.
       To quote Fat Matt: ``I'm not a happy customer.''
       ``I didn't know he was a customer,'' said Christy Mihos, 
     the former Pike board member. ``I thought he was the boss.''
       Only when there's a ribbon to be cut.

  I commend this article to all of my colleagues' reading. It is very 
entertaining. And since it is such a sad kind of a situation, maybe 
there is room--

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