AFTER READING the Globe's analysis of the true cost of the Big Dig, my disillusionment with this project has turned into outright despair.
We now learn of $7 billion in additional costs and interest payments, and that 38 percent of our state highway costs are going to debt service because of this project. To make matters worse, after being promised that the federal government would reimburse 90 percent of the cost, it turns out that 73 percent will be funded by Massachusetts taxpayers and toll payers.
The real outrage about this project is that it has done virtually nothing to alleviate traffic problems in Boston. This was nothing more than a downtown beautification project, and Tip O'Neill's payback to the Boston labor unions.
Imagine that for $22 billion, we instead had built a world-class, high-speed rail system. This would have dramatically reduced our commuting times from Metrowest and the North and South shores, and would have eliminated metro Boston traffic problems, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our region.
There are millions of the Commonwealth's residents who rarely if ever use the Central Artery, yet who will be paying for it for the rest of their lives. My hope is that our state, and our country, have learned an expensive and valuable lesson. When it comes to these outrageous public works projects: Never again!
LEW EVANGELIDIS, State representative, Republican of Holden
