The Big Dig

Devin Maverick Robins

There is a cynicism that hangs over the topic of American infrastructure – whether it’s high-speed rail or off-shore wind – it feels like this country can’t build big things anymore.

  • 2 minutes 50 seconds
    A note from The Big Dig team

    Just dropping in to share some news about the show, and what's coming next. 

    12 June 2024, 10:00 am
  • 37 minutes 32 seconds
    Part 9: Hearts and Minds

    It’s been fifty years since the Big Dig was first conceived, thirty years since construction began, more than a dozen years since it was completed – and the final twist is: the project has largely delivered on its promises. How do we reconcile that reality with the scandal and outrage we’ve heard so much about?

    Credits:

    Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

    Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

    Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

    Editor: Lacy Roberts

    Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

    Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

    Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

    Project Manager: Meiqian He

    15 November 2023, 11:00 am
  • 56 minutes 59 seconds
    Part 8: I Want Justice for What Happened

    Just as the project turns the corner towards completion, its entire legacy becomes clouded. The tunnels are leaking, concrete suppliers are being arrested, and everyday drivers are forced to wonder: are these tunnels safe?

    Credits:

    Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

    Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

    Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

    Editor: Lacy Roberts

    Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

    Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

    Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

    Project Manager: Meiqian He

    8 November 2023, 11:00 am
  • 56 minutes 34 seconds
    Part 7: The Turnpike Revolt

    By the year 2000, the Big Dig has passed through many hands, but in its final years a power struggle spills into public view – over who will determine the project’s fate, and who will take responsibility for its mistakes.

    Credits:

    Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

    Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

    Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

    Editor: Lacy Roberts

    Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

    Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

    Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

    Project Manager: Meiqian He

    1 November 2023, 10:00 am
  • 50 minutes 7 seconds
    Part 6: The Up Down Charts

    As work progresses through the 1990s and the tunnels take shape, the true cost of the Big Dig remains unknown to the public, until a series of revelations pulls down the curtain and shakes confidence in the whole project.

    Credits:

    Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

    Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

    Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

    Editor: Lacy Roberts

    Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

    Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

    Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

    Project Manager: Meiqian He

    25 October 2023, 10:00 am
  • 53 minutes 37 seconds
    Part 5: Hatchet Man vs. the 800 Pound Gorilla

    In 1991, the Big Dig is handed off to a new leader – the brash, aggressive, hatchet-toting Jim Kerasiotes – who makes it clear he plans to shake things up. The one thing he can’t shake is the equally aggressive private company managing the project. Now they have to work together.

    Credits:

    Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

    Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

    Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

    Editor: Lacy Roberts

    Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

    Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

    Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

    Project Manager: Meiqian He

    18 October 2023, 10:00 am
  • 56 minutes 5 seconds
    Part 4: The Double Cross

    The project faces an unexpected challenge on the home front: resistance from local environmentalists and residents – the very people the Big Dig was intended to please. Now, they say that Fred Salvucci has lost his way.

    Credits:

    Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

    Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

    Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

    Editor: Lacy Roberts

    Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

    Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

    Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

    Project Manager: Meiqian He

    11 October 2023, 10:00 am
  • 53 minutes 32 seconds
    Part 3: All Politics is Local

    The Big Dig needs federal funding. House Speaker Tip O’Neill is determined to get it; President Ronald Reagan is determined to stop it – setting up a final showdown in one of the great political rivalries of the 20th century.

    Credits:

    Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

    Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

    Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

    Editor: Lacy Roberts

    Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

    Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

    Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

    Project Manager: Meiqian He

    4 October 2023, 10:00 am
  • 52 minutes
    Part 2: Unholy Alliance

    In the early 1970s a radical idea took shape: tearing down Boston’s elevated downtown highway, and rebuilding it underground. But making it happen will require a grand bargain between two competing tunnel projects, and between bitter enemies.

    Credits:

    Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

    Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

    Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

    Editor: Lacy Roberts

    Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

    Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

    Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

    Project Manager: Meiqian He

    27 September 2023, 11:00 am
  • 54 minutes 17 seconds
    Part 1: We Were Wrong

    There is a strange irony behind the Big Dig: the most expensive highway project ever built in America began with a man who hated highways. This is the story of Fred Salvucci’s journey into activism, during what is perhaps the most transformative anti-highway movement in the nation’s history.

    Credits:

    Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

    Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

    Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

    Editor: Lacy Roberts

    Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

    Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

    Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

    Project Manager: Meiqian He

    27 September 2023, 10:00 am
  • 5 minutes 3 seconds
    Introducing: The Big Dig

    Can America still do big things? Can we build the ambitious projects we will need to survive climate change and improve our cities? This 9-part series looks for clues in the story of the Big Dig – one of the most notoriously troubled infrastructure projects in American history.

    The nine episode series is produced by GBH News.

    Credits:

    Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

    Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

    Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

    Editor: Lacy Roberts

    Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

    Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

    Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

    Project Manager: Meiqian He

    13 September 2023, 10:00 am
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