The Big Dig Project, Research Paper Example

The Big Dig Project: Understanding What Project Management is All About

Introduction

The highly populated streets of New York City has made it necessary for the creation of a huge tunnel that would host the train station that would stretch out from interstate 90 towards Logan International Airport. The said tunnel needed to become the primary connection between huge terminals in Boston. The planning of the project began years ago in 1982. The construction process tool over between the years 1991 towards the year 2006 which was later on finalized in the year 2007. Considered to be the most expensive project ever handled by the US government, this particular transportation innovation in the country is considered, up to the present, as the most important investment the government has ever made. The resulting condition of the economy that is boosted through this underground transport system is said to be the most powerful reasons why New York remains to be one of the fastest growing urban areas in the world today.

Apart from being the epitome of the American success, the Big Dig in Boston provides considerable lessons that business organizations could largely gain understanding from especially when it comes to developing extensive project management operations that are expected to bring the business into higher levels of success. In the discussion that follows, a particular consideration on these aspects of developmental project management is to be given attention to.

The Project’s Origin

As early as the 1930’s, Boston was already considered to having been able to experience heavy traffic and massive road congestion. During these years, other urban areas from the other parts of the globe [such as London] were still in the process of developing and are not experiencing such problems yet. Nevertheless, the administrators knew that this was a good sign especially for the economy of the country. Hence, to support the growing population of people and automobiles as well, the decision to create an underlying tunnel was given way. At first, the plan was not as ambitious as that of a tunnel being constructed under the highly congested areas of the city. Nevertheless, the high-amount of project that was dedicated to creating sky-roads was something the administration admittedly did not approve of because of the heightened price. Hence, to provide resolution, the tunnel-project was given attention to. It was much lower in cost, but the risks are incomparable. William Callahan, then was the Commissioner of Public Works, continued with his plan for elevated expressways. However, when Governor John Volpe came into position, he decided to change the design and went along with the tunnel project. With the attention focused on the central artery where congestion of heavy traffic was more than irritating, the governor took the chance to improve everything. Nevertheless, the project did not begin during his term. Not until the emergence of Frederick Salvucci that the overall design was finally began.

The finalization of the big plan included several resolutions for particular problems that emerged during the time. Among the said goals included the decrease of congestion in central artery and the improvement of traffic routes in the area; another is the construction of the third harbor tunnel; it also included the improvement of the Massachusetts Turnpike that would  largely affect traffic routes within the area. At present, the longest tunnel in US provides the most convenient travel routes to residents in the area making traffic a lot more bearable on ground.

Elements of Project Management Learned

Taking from the fact that the big dig project was one of the largest projects the US administration has ever had to deal with, it is expected that there were several interesting points of project management that emerged during the time. Among these elements are listed as follows:

The planning phase   

Basing from the historical background of the project, it could be understood that the emergence of the project needed to be resolved distinguished a time when not so much innovative engineering still exists. The need to create their own way of determining developmental engineering operations that would support the primary goal of the project was then necessary. This was a challenge that the project managers needed to take into account. Among the aspects of project management included in the challenge were as follows:

Budget

It was not that easy to establish the budget for the project. This is the reason why one administration goes from one resolution to the other to make sure that the entire process of the project’s completion would be funded accordingly. With an amount of $14.8 billion in 2007, the project was seemingly taken into account with a staggered vision of paying for the dues dedicated to completing the project (LeBlanc, 2007). The administrators along with the project managers needed to make sure that the coming administrations after them would continue to complete the project hence making sure that no investment would be wasted.

Risks

Creating an underground tunnel was a common solution for road congestion in the 1930s. However, the big dig was too extravagant in form and in size. It was rather a huge risk to make a plan that might endanger the entire city’s road construction on the ground (Ross, 2006). This is why during the process, the engineers assigned to complete it are expected to make massive diagrams that would assure the integrity of the ground above and the construction of the tunnel below. Making such distinct procedures was risky and yet has opened the doors for the engineers to distinctively respond to the challenge they were given.

Time table

As repeatedly mentioned, the cooperation of the different administrations between the 1980s and the year 2007 had to be made sure hence making a distinct impact on how the project continues to be completed accordingly (Sigmund,  2007).

Establishment of Specific Goals

One specific strength the big dig project has is the establishment of specific goals. The administrators knew what they were dealing with and they were able to foresee that such problems will continue to develop in the future if it is not given attention to at present (Sigmund, 2007). Hence, drafting a plan that is specific enough to create distinct improvement on the current situation of the Boston streets were designed to host other issues of population increase at least 10 years ahead of time.

Conclusion

The valuable lessons learned from the construction of the big dig in Boston tells so much about the efficiency of developmental engineering and the way matters are handled under effective project management. Making sure that the current team of workers would be able to pass on the same enthusiasm with the newer teams to handle the project was a necessary process to take into account. The success of the big dig was distinct presentation of how great projects are taken into account with several steps along the way. Within the years of its completion, it could not be denied that the entire project management team faced several difficulties along the way. Nevertheless, standing up to the challenge helped a lot in making sure that this massive transport innovation would take form and save the best benefits for the people of Boston and other neighboring regions in the country.

Works Cited

LeBlanc, Steve (2007-12-26). “On December 31, It’s Official: Boston’s Big Dig Will Be Done“. The Washington Post.

Ross, Casey (2006-01-14). “Hallelujah Hub drivers! Last Big Dig ramp done“. Boston Herald.

Sigmund, Pete (2007-06-06). “Triumph, Tragedy Mark Boston’s Big Dig Project“. Construction Equipment Guide.

Rosenwald, Mike. “Fixing Boston’s Horrible Jams”. Popsci. Popular Science.