Ruthann Baler

Having worked for the Big Dig for three years, I had the opportunity to understand the complex community and environmental public processes that are required for a project of this magnitude. I was able to observe the construction methods used throughout the project’s scope, the environmental mitigation required to ensure the preservation of public health, safety, and historic resources, and the rigorous approval from local, state, and federal agencies.

Headlines aside, where would Boston be today without the improvements made over the past 15 years?  Probably in a perpetual state of gridlock, cloaked in a perpetual state of smog. Still, while the Big Dig was never without controversy, it successfully retrofitted one of the oldest cities in the country, building underground next to the nation’s first subway system, relocating hundreds of miles of utility lines, and digging next to buildings that were built during the 17th and 18th centuries. These were just a few of the many challenges that project engineers, architects, and managers faced, but in the end, the project was built and Boston is better and greener for it.

To understand the price tags that come with construction projects is to understand what it takes precisely to go from drawing blueprints to breaking ground to pouring concrete. It’s not a straight line, nor is it fast and easy. So with a top priority being placed on repairing the country’s infrastructure, widespread support is needed more than ever to help make sure the stimulus plan allocates enough resources for a new era of big, medium, and little digs from coast to coast.

While the price tag of the stimulus package is unprecedented, so is the state of the economy. So is the condition of our infrastructure. 

Last week, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave a grade D to the country’s infrastructure. This is not just about repairing a few bridges, this is about large-scale improvements critically needed to ensure not only public safety, but a structurally sound system in which our country can begin to rebound economically. This includes roads, bridges, tunnels, dams, drinking water, wastewater systems, levees, solid waste systems, rail, aviation, transit, and more. 

“We really haven’t had the leadership or will to take action on it,” said Patrick Natale, the group’s executive director, “The bottom line is that a failing infrastructure cannot support a thriving economy.”

Reconstructing and repairing the infrastructure also gives engineers, architects, scientists, environmentalists, and builders an opportunity to work together to advance green and sustainable technology, such as the national power grid and different types of renewable energy. 

“There’s been a mentality in the United States of short-term fixes and hoping that they work — “patch and pray,” Natale said. 

“By underinvesting,” he said, “the price tag escalates.”