The process continues today as the Central Artery Tunnel, AKA The Big Dig continues apace, using the engineering skills and the labour of the Irish and the Irish American. The elevated six-lane highway that runs through the centre of the city, the Central Artery was opened in 1959 to carry 75,000 cars a day. It now carries 190,000 per day. It has an accident rate that is four times the national average for urban Interstates, and is subject to traffic jams about 16 hours a day.
Similar problems exist in the two tunnels under Boston Harbor.
In the late 1980's, City fathers dreamt up a new solution to a growing problem. No interstate highway linked Boston and Logan Airport. The enormous challenge was to keep the city working with the auto and train traffic flowing on the old system while the new tunnels were constructed under the streets of Boston. Bostonians commonly analogise the challenge to performing heart surgery without anaesthesia on an individual who is expected to remain fully functional during the 10-year procedure. This year alone, approximately 6000 workers have been employed to create underground highways and the new cable stayed bridge that crosses the Charles River that will deliver traffic to and from the 3.5 miles of tunnels beneath Boston.