MegaStructures - Season 2 - Eps 22: Boston's Big Dig
'National Geographic Channel MegaStructures' takes a look at the construction history of Boston Big Dig project. Costing almost 15 billion dollars and taking almost 20 yrs to complete, the Boston's Big Dig is considered to be the most complex, expensive, and technically challenging civil engineering public works project in the United States. The project was inspired by Fred Salvucci, the Transportation Commissioner to the Mayor of Boston, who wanted to find a solution to the city’s traffic woes. He came up with an idea to link up the major sectors of the city with a system of wide underground tunnels for traffic. Consisting of 4 elements, a tunnel under the harbor, an underground connection to the Interstate 90, an underground traffic system under the city itself to replace the elevated city highway, and a wide cable-stayed bridge to replace the old double-decked bridge. The episode looks at the many obstacles that were faced in the construction, from water leaks to residential protest. The episode also contains brief words from some of the major people involved in the project.
About MegaStructures
Title: MegaStructures
First Air Date: 2004-01-01
Last Air Date: 2012-05-24
Status: Returning Series
Rating: 7/10 (from 18 votes)
Language: EN
Seasons: 10
Total Episodes: 159
Network: National Geographic
Genres: Documentary
Production Companies: National Geographic
Synopsis
MegaStructures is a documentary television series appearing on the National Geographic Channel in the United States and the United Kingdom, Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, France 5 in France, and 7mate in Australia. Each episode is an educational look of varying depth into the construction, operation, and staffing of various structures or construction projects, but not ordinary construction products. Generally containing interviews with designers and project managers, it presents the problems of construction and the methodology or techniques used to overcome obstacles. In some cases this involved the development of new materials or products that are now in general use within the construction industry. MegaStructures focuses on constructions that are extreme; in the sense that they are the biggest, tallest, longest, or deepest in the world. Alternatively, a project may appear if it had an element of novelty or are a world first. This type of project is known as a Megaproject.
