Oversight Hearing on the Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project
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S. HRG. 106–1110 OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE BOSTON CENTRAL ARTERY/TUNNEL PROJECT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 3, 2000 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 80–706 PDF WASHINGTON : 2003 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Apr 24 2002 08:01 Jun 10, 2003 Jkt 080706 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\80706.TXT SCOM1 PsN: CAROLT SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona, Chairman TED STEVENS, Alaska ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina CONRAD BURNS, Montana DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii SLADE GORTON, Washington JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia TRENT LOTT, Mississippi JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine RICHARD H. BRYAN, Nevada JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota BILL FRIST, Tennessee RON WYDEN, Oregon SPENCER ABRAHAM, Michigan MAX CLELAND, Georgia SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas MARK BUSE, Republican Staff Director MARTHA P. ALLBRIGHT, Republican General Counsel KEVIN D. KAYES, Democratic Staff Director MOSES BOYD, Democratic Chief Counsel (II) VerDate Apr 24 2002 08:01 Jun 10, 2003 Jkt 080706 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\80706.TXT SCOM1 PsN: CAROLT C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on May 3, 2000 ................................................................................. 1 Prepared statement of Senator Hollings ................................................................ 7 Prepared statement of Senator Inouye .................................................................. 8 Statement of Senator Kerry .................................................................................... 4 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 6 Statement of Senator McCain ................................................................................. 1 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 3 WITNESSES Dimino, Richard A., President and CEO, Artery Business Committee ............... 62 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 65 Mead, Hon. Kenneth M., Inspector General, U.S. Department of Transpor- tation ..................................................................................................................... 17 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 21 Natsios, Andrew S., Chairman, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, accom- panied by Michael Lewis, Acting Project Director for the CA/T Project ......... 47 Prepared statement of Andrew Natsios .......................................................... 53 Slater, Hon. Rodney E., Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation ............ 8 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 13 Thomas, Richard L., Senior Vice President, American International Group, Inc. ......................................................................................................................... 55 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 57 Wiley, Matthew, Project Manager, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff Joint Ven- ture ........................................................................................................................ 58 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 60 APPENDIX Smith, Bob, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire, prepared statement ............... 87 Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. John McCain to: Kenneth M. Mead ............................................................................................. 87 Andrew S. Natsios ............................................................................................ 91 Rodney E. Slater ............................................................................................... 95 Matthew Wiley .................................................................................................. 111 (III) VerDate Apr 24 2002 08:01 Jun 10, 2003 Jkt 080706 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\80706.TXT SCOM1 PsN: CAROLT VerDate Apr 24 2002 08:01 Jun 10, 2003 Jkt 080706 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\80706.TXT SCOM1 PsN: CAROLT OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE BOSTON CENTRAL ARTERY/TUNNEL PROJECT WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2000 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m. in room SR– 253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John McCain, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. Staff members assigned to this hearing: Ann Begeman, Charlotte Casey, and Rob Freeman, Republican Professional Staff; Carl Bentzel, Democratic Senior Counsel; and Debbie Hersman, Demo- cratic Professional Staff. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN MCCAIN, U.S. SENATOR FROM ARIZONA The CHAIRMAN. Good morning. In an effort to fulfill our Commit- tee’s many duties, we are continuing to conduct hearings on legisla- tion and to work to move bills through the legislative process. We also conduct oversight hearings on Federal programs under our ju- risdiction, as well as on issues of public concern that have been brought to the Committee’s attention. Today’s hearing is designed to take a careful and in-depth look into the Boston Central Artery/Tunnel project, the biggest, most costly public works project in U.S. history, and commonly referred to as the Big Dig. This project has suffered from gross mismanage- ment and what appears to have been a complete lack of critical Federal oversight. As such, it has experienced billions of dollars in cost overruns. The Central Artery/Tunnel project was originally estimated to cost $2.5 billion in 1985. Today, it is estimated to cost U.S. tax- payers a staggering $13.6 billion. Almost daily, the Boston Globe or the Boston Herald publish a new and more embarrassing Big Dig story than the previous day’s expose´, noting the project’s mis- management and many cost overruns. This Committee needs to know what assurances we have that Federal and State highway officials responsible for overseeing this project finally have had their wake-up call. It is my hope that this hearing will enable us to explore the complete and utter failure of the parties involved in this immense multi-billion dollar transpor- tation project, including Federal and State officials and project managers. We must ensure that this project’s mismanagement and oversight neglect are a thing of the past. (1) VerDate Apr 24 2002 08:01 Jun 10, 2003 Jkt 080706 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\80706.TXT SCOM1 PsN: CAROLT 2 It is also my hope that the witnesses, each of whom is critically involved with the Big Dig project, will provide the Committee with their candid views on their role in the project and their individual perspectives concerning how and why the project’s cost have sky- rocketed. I also encourage each witness to offer specific suggestions on what actions Congress, the administration, State officials and project contractors should undertake to preclude future mis- management of this or other federally funded transportation projects. One area I would like to explore in some detail with the Sec- retary is the outstanding Federal financing obligation to the Cen- tral Artery/Tunnel project. While some Federal Highway Adminis- tration (FHWA) officials contend that the Federal funding level is capped, I am not convinced. There is no statutory cap on the Fed- eral funding share for the project, nor, to my knowledge, is there a written agreement signed by the State and the FHWA capping the Federal funding share for the project. I fear that as of today, we really still do not know the final price to America’s taxpayers. Further, I am not confident in the FHWA’s ability to fulfill its stewardship responsibilities over the expenditure of American’s gas tax dollars. Last year, this Committee spent a considerable amount of time on another issue that highlighted the FHWA’s poor stew- ardship—truck safety. In many meetings on truck safety, we re- ceived nearly unanimous views by a wide range of interested par- ties that the FHWA lacked leadership in its safety enforcement ef- forts. Many felt that the FHWA’s poor leadership was attributable to its more demanding role in overseeing the multi-billion dollar Fed- eral highway construction program. Ultimately, we took away FHWA’s motor carrier safety jurisdiction in an effort to improve truck safety. Perhaps the FHWA’s problems stem more from poor performance generally rather than from its oversight responsibility for the high- way funding program. If FHWA wants the Congress to permit it to continue to have any Federal responsibilities, it had better re- form itself immediately. Much of the public attention on the Big Dig in recent months stems from the independent audit work carried out by the Depart- ment of Transportation