Big Dig
A $2.8 billion promise that became a $14.6 billion saga — and left Boston with a park where a highway once ran.
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Between 1991 and 2006, workers rerouted Interstate 93 into the O'Neill Tunnel beneath downtown Boston. The elevated highway that had sliced the city in two came down; the Rose Kennedy Greenway now occupies that corridor. The same project drove the Ted Williams Tunnel to Logan Airport and raised the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge over the Charles — the most expensive highway project in US history.
What to look for
- The Rose Kennedy Greenway — a linear park running exactly where the elevated Central Artery once stood
- The Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge over the Charles River, built as part of the project
- Street-level signage marking the O'Neill Tunnel carrying I-93 underground directly below
The Rose Kennedy Greenway is free and open; walk it end to end to trace the full path of the old elevated highway through downtown.
Big Dig is one of 31 sights worth the detour in Boston, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Boston pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Boston
- Museum of Fine Arts BostonFour hundred and fifty thousand works of art under one roof — one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas.
- TD GardenThe subway stops underneath it — TD Garden is built directly above MBTA's North Station, so you step off the train and you are already at the door.
- Harvard College ObservatoryOn the night of July 16-17, 1850, astronomers here made the first daguerreotype of a star — Vega — through a telescope that was the largest in North America.
- Fenway ParkThe oldest active ballpark in MLB, where a cramped city block accidentally invented some of baseball's most famous features.
- Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIn 1990, thieves walked out with thirteen works worth $500 million — none have ever come back, and the case is still open.
- Boston Public LibraryJohn Adams' personal 3,800-volume library lives here — and any Massachusetts adult can walk in and access it.