Minding The Cost Of Boston's Big Dig

BOSTON-- Keeping the price tag at $14.6 billion on what is already among the most expensive public works projects in U.S. history may not seem like a very ambitious goal.

But in the nearly two-decade history of Boston's Big Dig and its unparalleled list of missed deadlines, cost overruns and, most recently, leaky tunnels in need of repair, simply holding the line would be a first.

The buck--and, he hopes, the bucks--now stop with Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly (D), who in February took over efforts to recover state and federal funds allegedly misspent and mismanaged by the massive highway project's dozens of contractors.

"Congress and taxpayers throughout this country and in this state have a right to be upset by what has happened here with this project. I know I am upset by it," Reilly said in an interview conducted in a 20th-floor conference room overlooking much of downtown Boston. "It is in everyone's interest to reach some resolution as soon as we possibly can."

Reilly, who was first elected in 1998, is circumspect on many of the details of his strategy for recovering funds, such as which contractors he is planning to target, how much he thinks he can recover and when he might produce results.

Because Congress has contributed about $8.5 billion to the Big Dig--which buried Boston's Central Artery, a section of Interstate 93--just less than two-thirds of the money Reilly recovers will be returned to the federal government. The project was initially budgeted at about $2.5 billion and scheduled to finish years ago.

"It won't be billions [that are recovered], but we will be more efficient," he said. "But we would consider it an important accomplishment if we hold the bottom line right where it is, at $14.6 billion."

Previous attempts to win concessions from Big Dig contractors have been plagued by what critics say was a process that was shielded from public view and a lack of persistence among those seeking to hold private firms accountable for the overruns.

Reilly's predecessor in the cost recovery effort, retired family court judge Edward M. Ginsburg, led a seven-member team for two years and retrieved about $4 million. About $8 million was spent in the process.

Reilly's team has just one lawyer and two engineers, and he said its independence from the state turnpike authority will be an asset.

He said he will focus only on battles he thinks he can win, and has hinted he may soon drop the state's largest pending lawsuit, a $150 million mismanagement case against the project's main contractor, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff.

His first priority, Reilly said, will be to ensure that the cost of fixing hundreds of recently discovered leaks is born entirely by private companies. Auditor Deloitte and Touche is working to determine the cost of the repairs.