Doesn't make me mad. Does make me feel sorry for the taxpayers. $14 billion for a tunnel? One that is short enough to walk through? And it leaks? Even before it starts falling apart? Put the accident in perspective though. How many traffic fatalities in Boston so far this year? I dare say many of those were preventable as well.

On a related note, we came through an alternate tunnel on the way to Logan on Tuesday morning, flying home from our NY/Boston vacation. Traffic was bad, but at least we missed the falling concrete by 8 hours.

The Swiss tunnel fire (the big one) was the Mont Blanc, in 1999. It prompted a lot of re-engineering for fire safety, interesting reading on the web. It was closed for several years. We drove from the UK to Tuscany in 2001, and it was still closed. Had to take the St. Gotthard tunnel, IIRC. That was in September. The St. Gotthard tunnel didn't catch on fire until October 2001, at which point it was closed.

Maybe we should stop taking tunnels.

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2007 X3 3.0si, 6 MT, Premium, White

Retired:
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Living in Boston i AM VERY PISSED OFF AT THE WHOLE SITUATION...It will not be fair that more tax dollars should be spent to fix what was already completely over budget...the contractors should get an a** rap***.

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2010 BMW X5 ///M
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What's A Resonator?

they should've seen it coming. The tiles were falling off last Feb was I was there. Sad indeed but that's gov't contract work.

I live in Boston The problem is in the politicians. They are so crooked. So much money has been put into I think a great idea and it took them so long to build it and now there is a lost life. I think The govenor is full of crap! He is just looking to get a name off of this. The attorney general in our state is actually the lawyer of One of the major people that ran this whole Thing. They cut so many corners. I am actually worried to go through that thing now.

everyone who rec'd a kickback or bribe or knew (and did nothing about it) should all be convicted of 2nd degree murder including Kennedy & Kerry who supplied the Fed dollars to feed their contributors pockets.

Term limits, outlaw lobbying, end political contributions from corporations and unions, dissolve PACs, enforce max $11000 political contributions (=2 gifting $), adjust the law that exempts politicians from being sued for their actions so they can be held culpible if they or their "friends" gained, no speaking fees or book deals while in office, take the profit out of being a politician

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Mark _______________________________
2001 X5 4.4i topaz blue/sand Sport, complete Dinan S2 , hitch, V1, tint, BSW Stage 1, Alpine INA-W910BT
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Life is not fair!
You can't protect people from their own stupidity!
Laughter makes life worth living

the spider web of influence, connections, and inter-relationships between contractors, engineers, and local politicians is way too big for anyone to ever get nailed.

the problem is simple: a super-project vested in one firm, with little public sector oversight. It happens all the time in the engineering/contracting world, but the results are usually less dramatic, so you don't hear about it.