Big Dig cost increases are feared
Administration cites `serious concerns'
The Romney administration said yesterday it had ``serious concerns" that the $14.6 billion cost of the Big Dig will increase because of repair work ``and any future work that may be needed to ensure the safe reopening of the tunnels."
The administration's remarks, in a letter to Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill , reflect the growing consensus among state officials that the project's costs -- it is already among the most expensive public works projects in US history -- will increase beyond the $14.6 billion figure that has for five years been used publicly as the Big Dig's price tag.
How much the price would increase, however, remained unclear yesterday.
Cahill speculated that it could top $15 billion, but did not provide any new details beyond a letter he released two days ago outlining his concerns about the cost of the project. In the letter, Cahill warned Governor Mitt Romney that a $133 million freeze in federal transportation funds plus several other potential financial shortfalls, combined with spiraling repair costs, may end up siphoning funds from other construction projects around the state.
``You're already $14.625 billion. It doesn't take too much to get you to $15 billion," Cahill said yesterday, adding that he hoped the Romney administration would soon be able to get to the bottom of the Big Dig's finances. ``All we're looking for is the truth."
Turnpike Authority spokeswoman Mariellen Burns said yesterday: ``[Turnpike chairman Matthew J.] Amorello has always said that no one could guarantee the final price tag until all of the contract close-outs and other issues were complete, and that stands true today."
The concern over additional Big Dig costs arises as the project continues a potentially expensive and time-consuming repair effort after Milena Del Valle's death on July 10.
With the route from South Boston to Logan International Airport reopened earlier this week, state engineers are pushing ahead with fixes in a ramp connecting Interstate 90 westbound to Interstate 93, a crucial link between the airport and the region's major artery. Romney has said he hopes to finish this work by Labor Day.
The controversy over the Big Dig's finances was triggered by the scheduled sale next week of $500 million in bonds to raise money for various state programs, most of them public works construction projects.
By federal law, the state must tell potential investors about what it knows and does not know about the Big Dig's finances.
Cahill said yesterday that the bond sale should be able to go through as scheduled despite the uncertainty over various aspects of the project's finances.
Cahill's letter drew sharp criticism from an array of state officials yesterday, who disputed some of his findings about questionable costs in the Big Dig project and Turnpike Authority finances.
Romney's finance and administration secretary, Thomas H. Trimarco , in a letter to Cahill yesterday said the governor would seek to better understand the project's financial situation.
``As we all learn more about the nature of the project's problems and their concomitant costs, we will develop and implement solutions to those problems," he wrote.
In his own letter earlier this week, Cahill cited a litany of potential cash flow issues at the Big Dig that yesterday were disputed by some state officials.
He wrote that lawmakers had diverted $40 million from a transportation fund to instead help pay for the Greenbush commuter rail project to Hingham. But Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials yesterday said the Legislature agreed to divert the money and it was spent on unrelated subway projects in Mattapan, Ashmont, and Revere.
Trimarco, noting that Cahill sits on a board that oversees the transportation fund, said in a letter yesterday: ``I must confess that I am concerned that you raise these matters in a manner that suggests they are surprisingly novel to you."
Cahill had also asserted that the Big Dig had $133 million in cash flow problems because of the handling of promised funds from the Federal Highway Administration.
The federal agency has withheld money because it is not satisfied with the Turnpike Authority's finance plans.
But Burns, the turnpike spokeswoman, said the issue did not present an immediate cash flow problem because the state had loaned the Turnpike Authority the money, which would be paid back once the federal government disbursed the funds.
``There isn't any funding shortfall for the project's budget of $14.625 [billion]," Burns said.
Cahill also cited a Turnpike Authority building on Kneeland Street that had recently been valued at $67 million less than the Turnpike Authority had anticipated when it put it up for sale.
Burns said the Turnpike Authority had made up for that shortfall using excess funds in its Transportation Infrastructure Fund, created to help cover Big Dig costs, and from investment earnings from an Allston project.
In addition, Cahill said he was concerned that the fund, which currently has more liabilities than assets, will not be able to generate the level of interest returns that the Turnpike Authority had been counting on. Cahill reiterated yesterday that he was worried that lawmakers may be tempted to use funds from other construction projects if the Big Dig finds itself in immediate need of cash.
Hanging over all this is the uncertainty of the eventual costs of repairs stemming from the Big Dig tragedy. Extensive repairs in the I-90 connector where Del Valle died have not yet gotten underway.
And a planned ``stem to stern" audit of the Big Dig could turn up more problems requiring repairs.
Frank Phillips of the Globe staff contributed to this report. 