A POLITICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF BOSTON'S CENTRAL ARTERY/TUNNEL PROJECT
Conventional wisdom holds that the era of major downtown highway projects is over -- the victim of gridlocked local political systems, fiscal austerity, and ardent opposition from both neighborhoods and environmentalists. Historically, these forces were particularly strong in the Boston metropolitan area. Yet today -- at a cost of almost $10 billion -- Massachusetts is replacing Boston's existing elevated Central Artery with an underground highway and building a third harbor tunnel from the city's downtown to the region's major airport. This report documents how the region's political leaders developed and sustained a broad coalition in support of the project and analyzes this history to suggest important lessons about how to plan, finance, and manage a complex urban transportation project in an era of environmentalism, neighborhood activism, and fiscal austerity.
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Supplemental Notes:
- Supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
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Corporate Authors:
Taubman Center for State and Local Government
Kennedy School of Government, 79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA United States 02138 -
Authors:
- Luberoff, D
- Altshuler, A
- Publication Date: 1996-10
Language
- English
Media Info
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 293 p.
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Airports; Analysis; City planning; Environmental impacts; Financing; Institutional issues; Neighborhoods; Political factors; Transportation planning; Tunnels; Urban areas; Urban highways
- Identifier Terms: Central Artery/Tunnel Project
- Geographic Terms: Boston (Massachusetts)
- Subject Areas: Aviation; Bridges and other structures; Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; Terminals and Facilities; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00728819
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: Final Report
- Contract Numbers: DTRS95-60001
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Nov 21 1996 12:00AM