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MassDOT hasn’t ruled out replacing the Tobin with a tunnel. What do you think?
Is Boston ready for another Big Dig?
Those of us of a certain age might remember what it was like to live through the Big Dig. Yes, we’ve likely tried to repress the memory, like people tend to do with traumatic experiences. But if you think hard enough it may resurface, like the sound of a distant, bloated bulldozer.
We bring this up because the Massachusetts Department of Transportation is in the process of studying options for replacing the aging Tobin Bridge — you know, that big one that heads into Boston from the north. And at a community meeting in Charlestown this week, someone asked if there was a possibility that the bridge might be replaced by a tunnel dug under the Mystic River.
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Now, much like George Costanza when he asked his doctor if the discoloration on his lip could be cancer, we’d have been looking for a “get outta here!” in response to that question. But no, apparently they’re actually considering it!
“We’re still sort of setting the foundation to get toward thinking about tunnels, bridges — what we call alternatives,” project manager Patrick Snyder replied, according to NBC10.
Now, such an undertaking would presumably be at least slightly less ambitious than the Big Dig, which buried the entire Central Artery and spawned the Zakim Bridge over a period that spanned, from planning to completion, 25 years and many broken hearts. And while traffic is still not especially good, at least now we don’t have to look at all those elevated highways. Plus, we got the Rose Kennedy Greenway!
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Also, with a tunnel, you don’t have to worry about water levels eventually rising so much that ships can’t fit under the bridge. So who knows, perhaps a Tobin Tunnel wouldn’t be so bad. (And let’s face it, replacing the Tobin with a new bridge wouldn’t be a walk in the park either.)
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