Transportation Infrastructure

At a cost of more than $1 billion per mile, the Central Artery/Tunnel project--an Interstate Highway System project in Boston, Massachusetts--ranks as one of the largest, most complex, and expensive highway construction projects ever undertaken. About $4.7 billion in federal and state money has been obligated so far, but this amount is less than half of the more than $10 billion that will likely be needed to complete the project. To date, about 86 percent of the funding for the Central Artery/Tunnel project has come from federal sources. This report evaluates (1) the estimated total cost of the Central Artery/Tunnel project and (2) the plans of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for financing it.

GAO found that: (1) in January 1996, Massachusetts estimated that the project's total cost was $7.8 billion, but that estimate did not include $1 billion in previously identified costs or account for the effects of inflation; (2) project costs could total more than $10.4 billion if Massachusetts does not successfully contain construction costs well below historic levels; (3) Massachusetts has directed two state agencies to contribute $200 million toward project costs, but federal and state funding may not be sufficient to complete the project by 2004; (4) federal funding may be limited by the lack of provisions giving the state access to unobligated balances from previous years; and (5) Massachusetts has identified several funding options, but shortfalls exist under all of the options because of its plans to accelerate construction and begin numerous projects within a short period of time.