<story><title>Ten years later, did Boston&apos;s Big Dig deliver?</title><url>https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/12/29/years-later-did-big-dig-deliver/tSb8PIMS4QJUETsMpA7SpI/story.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chrisweekly</author><text>Short answer: yes.
I&amp;#x27;ve lived in or around Boston for ~36 of my 41 years. The word &amp;quot;expressway&amp;quot; is no longer farcical, and the hideous rusted green monstrosity that used to cut off the waterfront from the rest of the otherwise very walkable city has been replaced by the aptly-named &amp;quot;greenway&amp;quot; linear park.... it&amp;#x27;s so much better I can hardly believe it. Yes, public transit needs more and better investment. Yes, the BD suffered from corruption and inefficiency. But, this lifelong Bostonian sees it as a messy, expensive, insufficient but necessary step in bringing this awesome little city into modernity.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>deveac</author><text>I lived in Boston in the mid nineties for about three years, doing shipping logistics that served the downtown &amp;amp; surrounding areas. I didn&amp;#x27;t have a frame of reference, and really only ever knew the city in the midst of that debacle, having to design courier routes throughout the area. Needless to say I was intimately familiar with the Big Dig.&lt;p&gt;I had the pleasure of returning to the city in 2015 for a brief bit of work with my current company and was utterly blown away at the transformation of the boulevard, the green spaces, the visual beauty...and just the sense of openness and lightness. I felt like I could breath easier just walking down the street.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s a shame to have had to overpaid so dearly for that, but what an amazing result. It was a great city before, but this just felt next-level.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ten years later, did Boston&apos;s Big Dig deliver?</title><url>https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/12/29/years-later-did-big-dig-deliver/tSb8PIMS4QJUETsMpA7SpI/story.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chrisweekly</author><text>Short answer: yes.
I&amp;#x27;ve lived in or around Boston for ~36 of my 41 years. The word &amp;quot;expressway&amp;quot; is no longer farcical, and the hideous rusted green monstrosity that used to cut off the waterfront from the rest of the otherwise very walkable city has been replaced by the aptly-named &amp;quot;greenway&amp;quot; linear park.... it&amp;#x27;s so much better I can hardly believe it. Yes, public transit needs more and better investment. Yes, the BD suffered from corruption and inefficiency. But, this lifelong Bostonian sees it as a messy, expensive, insufficient but necessary step in bringing this awesome little city into modernity.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>prplhaz4</author><text>I completely agree.  I returned to Boston after 10 years away and was floored by the transformation.&lt;p&gt;I see it as flushing away a huge amount of technical debt that we had incurred over the last 100 years, hopefully setting us up for modernization on many fronts - which is quite a big deal when you consider it&amp;#x27;s competing to be a top tech hub.</text></comment>