'Big Dig' boondoggle

What do you get when you pay a big company $15 billion to dig a big highway tunnel under Boston, then let them spend 20 years working on it?

Catastrophe – including deaths and costly delays – not to mention fraud!

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What went wrong?

In 1985, the venerable officials in Massachusetts envisioned an engineering feat that would not only vastly improve public transportation, but also beautify the landscape of Boston. The aging, ugly, elevated highway was an eye sore. In its place would be a network of lovely parks connecting downtown Boston to its historic harbor.

Two big construction companies, Bechtel Infrastructure Corporation and Parsons Brinckerhoff (aka PB Americas Inc.), signed on to complete the task for $2.6 billion. The project was so massive, it soon became known as the "Big Dig."

What was supposed to be an engineering marvel – admired and emulated by other big cities – turned out to be an embarrassing mess, making Boston the butt of jokes.

The Big Dig was a bad deal from the start. It was one debacle after another. The whole project was rife with scandals, fraud and costly overruns that dragged on and on for 20 years! Consider these four fiascos alone:

1. Instead of costing $2.6 billion, the Big Dig has cost $15 billion – more than 5 times the contract price – so far.

2. Although you wouldn't know it – considering how long they took to build it and how much they spent – PB Americas Inc. took shortcuts that led to breaches in the walls of tunnels. In 2004, one tunnel flooded. Workers have reported that there are thousands of leaks.

3. In 2006, a woman was killed by a tunnel collapse, caused by those same shortcuts. As she was driving through a tunnel on the way to the airport, several large concrete ceiling panels dropped from the ceiling and instantly crushed her.

4. It's not over yet! The Big Dig is far from complete. It's still behind schedule and likely to cost billions more to correct the problems and complete the task.

These fiascoes are not sad accidents. They are the direct results of manipulations by PB Americas Inc., so serious that they amount to fraud.

The repercussions

The state of Massachusetts has just reached a settlement with all the companies involved in the Big Dig. It accepted $458 million to absolve all criminal and civil liability for the two main construction companies and 24 design firms.

PB Americas Inc. admits that it took dangerous shortcuts. Defective epoxy bolts are now slipping out of the tunnel ceilings. The company admits that, instead of inspecting these bolts in the first place, they spent their time making out false certificates that the bolts were safe. It also admits that it built the tunnel walls with cheap, faulty concrete. That's why the tunnel is riddled with leaks.

The problems are so severe that most of the money from the settlement will be held in a fund to cover the cost of any "non-routine" repairs resulting from faulty workmanship. But, once that fund goes dry, the taxpayers will have to pay for the work. It's likely to be billions more.

Despite their blatant disregard for the safety of countless numbers of people in Boston, no one from the construction companies will go to jail. And remarkably, the same companies that have perpetrated this massive fraud will be allowed to finish the project.

The $450 million settlement in this case will not likely deter these companies or others from cheating the government in the future, because it amounts to merely 3 percent of the contract value. It's a mere slap on the wrist.

PB Americas Inc. will, however, remain liable to pay for any "catastrophic" events resulting from their misconduct, such as another cave in. Yet, the liability would be capped at $100 million and be limited to events occurring during the next 10 years.

All in all, the taxpayers of Massachusetts are the victim of massive fraud, waste and abuse. That is why there remains a great need for whistleblowers to step forward, before things gets as bad as they are in Boston, where the tunnels collapse and people are killed.