This is 99% invisible.

I'm Roman Mars.

Over its more than 40 year journey from conception to completion,

Boston's Big Dig massive infrastructure project,

which rerouted the Central Highway in the heart of the city

encountered every hurdle imaginable ruthless politics engineering challenges secretive contractors outright fraud and even the death of one motorist.

It became kind of a poster child for big government boondoggles.

But the full story, of course, is much more complicated and really represents a turning point in how America

builds infrastructure. For much of the 20th century Public Works projects were viewed as an

unalloyed good. Our capacity to build big things was a point of American pride and something that both political parties could agree on.

But as we learn more about the neighborhoods ruined, the lives affected, the graft taken, the cost overruns, and the environmental

damage, all of which were being discussed more widely during an ascending movement towards

privatization and small government. Well, we got much more cynical, and public works. and

public works became just like everything else.

If you've ever had this question that I've had,

can America still build big things?

The story of the big Dig in Boston has many of the

answers, a project that had a raft of very public problems, but ultimately

delivered on its promises. Today we're presenting the first episode in a series that offers a true inside account of one of the

most complicated and expensive public works projects in American history.

It is a remarkable roller coaster ride of a documentary produced by WGBH in Boston and reported

and hosted by Ian Koss.

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