I know it's been the most expensive public works project in history, I can only trust that they will fill all the leaks, but today the Big Dig will become Tip's Tunnel.
Tunnel is Tip O'Neill's triumphant legacy.
THIS WEEK we will make official what many of us have known all along: The Big Dig is a monument to Tip O'Neill. More than that, though, it is a monument to a time when great politicians used their political muscle to do great things for ordinary people.
Tomorrow the tunnel from Chinatown to the Lenny Zakim Bridge will be dedicated the Thomas P. ``Tip" O'Neill Jr. Tunnel. It was O'Neill who won the funds that began the project and kept it alive even over Ronald Reagan's veto. Reagan knew what he was talking about when he called it ``Tip's Tunnel."
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The construction of this engineering miracle is a monument to political civility that has all but disappeared, to a time before big money, partisanship, and a pervasive negativity ruled government. It was a time when politicians were able to do important things -- to build for the future -- working across party lines
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With all the talk of cost overruns and delays and leaks we are losing sight of what has been accomplished. A city that was choking to death in traffic has a new face. The central artery wasn't just an eyesore but a divider of neighborhoods. The Big Dig has thrown open the city to the sunlight, reconnected Boston to its harbor, and created the potential for one of the world's great urban green spaces.
The City of Boston is immensely better off and more beautiful.
Building for the future works.
Posted by Jill Fallon at June 5, 2006 1:49 AM | Permalink