Video 12_1990: Boston Central Artery before the Big Dig
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Heading south on U.S. 1 from the tolls on the Tobin, on the former elevated Central Artery, past the old Boston Garden on the right and the North End on the left, through the old South Station Tunnel.
Anyone saying the Big Dig screwed up traffic and it was better before is DELUSIONAL.
Those people obviously never sat forever trying to go 93 S and pass the exit for Storrow Drive where a previously 4 lane highway had to squeeze to 2 lanes.
These people obviously never sat on 93 N, slowly trudging into the city because every offramp had an onramp just in front of it. Like the massive stream of cars coming from the Sumner tunnel coming up to 93 N. Those people would try to merge as about half of 93 was trying to get off RIGHT THERE for Causeway St or the Storrow Dr exit a few hundred feet further up.
Every day the Sumner tunnel took 40 minutes to get through from 6:10AM to 11AM. Then again between 1:30PM and 7:30PM. Even then, it could spike at other times.
All Pike traffic had to enter 93. One tunnel to the airport.
Did you want to go to the airport from the north? Better get off in Medford and cut through Chelsea. If it was the middle of the day, you got off at Sullivan Square because traffic could quickly build downtown at any time. So you went through Sullivan Square down to Rutherford Ave. Take that to Causeway St and then take the ramp to 93 S never fully getting on because you exit again for Haymarket. If it's a Friday, have fun with the shoppers parking on the offramp. Then you finally get down the ramp and come to a stop sign. No traffic light, a stop sign. Wait for all that foot traffic going from Haymarket/Fanueil Hall to clear. Then wait for the car traffic to give you a quick hole to dart out into. Take a left and now you can enter the Callahan tunnel. Sound like fun?
Here's the deal. Boston is a major city. It will have traffic no matter what is done. But, the Big Dig is mostly transparent. With its wider lanes, longer offramps and onramps and fewer choke points, it flows a hundred times better than the old artery ever could. The old artery used to be THE choke point and traffic spilled out of the city. Now, the highway Big Dig flows well enough traffic chokes outside the city. If there is any traffic in the city, it's because people got into it very quickly.
As someone who has been a full time chauffeur from 1997 to now, I've seen it all. The Big Dig has made my life much, much better. It's not the reason for much of any traffic today, unless you want to argue it's made Boston more attractive as a destination and, thus, brings more traffic in. It's also made the Seaport District more accessible. That area of Boston alone will make the $20B+ project worth it in the long run...
it did improve traffic, but the problem is they improved traffic from the south thanks to the ted Williams tunnel, the problem is they should have done a tunnel from the north as well cos the north traffic still has to get into the narrow summer and Callahan tunnels, and still merges into a space same width as the elevated, improved traffic but mostly the traffic from south, the north not as much (I've a friend from Boston who has told me everything, and I'm an expert in highways so yeah) also they eliminated some exits do merging isn't such a nightmare anymore, so some parts were improvement, but some were not so much, it's on thr 20s of the most congested highways, but at least it's not on the top 5 anymore
+Danny1022 20 years. 1.2 million miles. Most of that in and out of Boston. Most of that in and out of Logan. My career as a chauffeur encompasses a decade before and a decade after. I know all of this more intricately than anyone you know.
What i said before stands on its own merit.
well.. my friend lived in Boston in the neighbourhood next to the artery (he didn't mind it btw) so he knew how it was before and during the big dig (later moved to Houston, but still goes back often) I'm not saying it isn't an improvement i actually think the big dig is fine, just some things could have been better like focusing on traffic from all directions rather than just the south and the west, definitely had to be in different projects but just saying a north connection would have been good also, i guess i suck at highways since you say... that idk about boston... sorry..
Another reason traffic backs up in southbound is because after the tunnel ends there is 3 onramps that have no dedicated lane and the lane they merge into exits, forcing motorists that previously merged to repeat the merging process again, a bottleneck that interferes with traffic flow for miles. The solution would be to expand I-93 to 6 lanes going southbound.
Lifelong Bostonian here. Can confirm. Truly nightmarish stuff, really
These videos are gold. Thank you for having the presence of mind to do a video before the smartphone era. This is an era that will never be forgotten.
I was born in 1990, and grew up in the Boston area. It's amazing how much has changed.
Wow... It's pretty nice to see how far we've come. Jeez. I remember being a kid in the city but sometimes you forget how cranes and huge construction sites were just EVERYWHERE. And all the temporary elevated roadways that aren't even there anymore. You just got used to it. But seeing this really shows you how huge the project really was.
And I gotta say, although the open space we have today is definitely way better than having a giant steel highway snaking through the city, there was something kinda nice about driving along the road in between all the big buildings. Made you feel small. The new tunnel makes me feel like "please God don't let this thing collapse today."
Esta bueno
+Dennis Chaves I think the Big Dig was a great improvement for Boston. The highway spliting the city in two was horrible. I agree that it was cool to drive through the skyscrapers, but it was still awful. I visited Boston in 2013 and the parks look great!!
@ Ricardo,🤓🔔💯
I love that Marlboro ad, classic!!!!
I thought the same thing haha seems so quaint like it may as well be from 150 years ago
@@hrantesserian6439 shows how fast information can be lost, or changed. Especially when record keeping wasn't as efficient as it is today. Lets not start on net neutrality
I.remember that billboard.marlboro ad
This makes me wicked homesick! We moved out to Denver in 92. I've only been back a couple of times since the Dig, so I haven't really seen that much of where the Artery used to be. I worked on Broad St a block from it and would be able to see the cars on it from the studio. Thanks for posting this.
Come back home guy
Be glad you left it’s nothing but out of state yuppies and illegal immigrants now. Boston was a much better place when it was filled with blue collar salt of the earth types.
Oh gosh! Brought back so much memories on these roads. Thank you for sharing our old lovely Boston
I remembered going that way too in July of 1990.
I was only 10 in 1990 and we didn't really go to Boston that much since we lived in west central Massachusetts but it's amazing to see the difference compared to now!
The original artery wasn't meant to be the main north-south route through Boston, so it wasn't expected to handle the traffic load it did. However, the Inner Belt that was supposed to do that would have utterly destroyed a bunch of neighborhoods, so the Big Dig was meant to replace the function of the Inner Belt, as well as get rid of a hideous mess of a structure that cut off a big chunk of the city.
I still remember the unfinished exits in the 80s on 93 that were meant to connect to the inner beltway
Over the Tobin and through the artery to grandmother's house we go...
It's the ahtery, get it right!
Old School Boston! Thanks so much for sharing this.
I used to drive this road, back in the early '70s.. Nice blast to the past...! Thanks
I was born in 1988 so I missed driving through that old bridge on 93. But I remember being in the car while my parents drived on that bridge. Also I love looking at the billboards and buildings that are no longer there.
Ya inspection stickah is wicked expyed dood.
wicked old
Thank you for posting born in 2000 and wanted to see more of what the city looked like with that whole kinda elevated freeway system
Anonymous KB I was born in 2000 as well. I'm not a Bostonian, but live only 30 mins away and have have gone through the O Neil tunnel hundreds of times to get to my brother's place and have been around Boston . I like footage of the old Boston, especially the garden
@@bengomes104 Even though I’m from an hour away, I still consider myself a Bostonian. I do have a respectable Boston accent; not many in their 30’s today can say they do so.
At 3:57 in, the Building formerly at right as you entered tunnel from open expressway was the Traveler's Insurance Building.A modern skyscraper is viewed built on this former property.
Thank you for providing this unique perspective from before the old US 1 ramps were closed. My earliest memories come from when they were still signing that there was no access to US 1 North from 93 south....
The best part of the big dig was the extension of I-90 Mass Pike to Logan Airport and to 1A in East Boston.
Maybe I'm wrong, but some of that construction in this clip was the very beginning of the City Square Tunnel you'd now go through, between I-93 and the Tobin Bridge.
I was a baby the year this was filmed and now this is my commute from north of Boston to South Station exit. 3:30 to 4 was a much better looking drive but I've walked through that area after the big dig and it's way better improvement. It's wild growing up hearing about it in the news then driving it.
Brings back memories of a Boston my kids never knew, and the only way my dad ever knew it (he died in ‘87).
This is nuts. I remember this roadway. Look at how empty the skyline is! Kinda freaking out right now
Wow, thank you for this! It brought me back in time to when I was 13. Except we were always coming from the south. Chuckling at the conversation! I hope your husband was able to pay for gas with his good looks!
Haha me too… I was 13 in 1990 and coming into Boston from the South Shore! I even knew some Devines growing up.
One early Saturday Morning, with little to no other traffic in sight, I did about 60-65 on the elevated part of the 93.
Well, that was a fun ride. One of these days I'm going to travel this route on 2 wheels, really get the sense of "Tunnel of Love".
Brings back memories……I lived in Southie during the 90’s. I remember whenever we did get on the Highway I always thought it was cool to be elevated driving through a city, I’d look down at the aquarium, or look at the huge American flag a building/hotel close by would hang or even taking the green line through the city elevated was also really cool. Today the area looks much nicer, much different and a bit easier to navigate..in my opinion. Still crazy amounts of traffic but it’s a major city, tons of residents/tourists/workers/students so it’s expected. Cool video 👍.
i remember taking that exit right (2:30) to head onto Storrrow one day in the rain, got cut off by someone that 'changed their mind' at the last second. spun a nice 180, and enjoyed the view of oncoming traffic
Getting off Tobin seemed so much easier back then
Great video !
Hey look Marlboro advertising!!!!1:51
When we didn’t care about cigarette companies….
Life was simple…
I love the Marlboro sign at 1:50. Don't see those anymore.
you drove past BAHHHSTON GAHHHHHDEN and not even a Mention 😠😠😠....Goooo B'ZZZZZS AND C'SSSSSS
nice Vid... like it was Yesterday....and when that GAS was like .89/gal 😱...thks for the Flashback...wicked Pissah cool
I was in Boston 3 months after this video was done. The lights are 1950's era lights and remember the smoke stack factory at the old Mass ave exit. Today 1-28-14, the only remainder of the 1950's style lights is when you get off at the Southhampton exit or to Southbay plaza going northbound, there are two light fixtures at that exit that still stand, but do not work.
Super late, but had to inform you that they've been removed :(
@@JohnCena-oe9he Part of the expressway light pole replacement project still not done.
This is so great, thanks for posting. Depending what month this was shot, I think I was in NH already(4/6/1990). I miss home.
And pestering him about not filling up the car or having any money on him for Memorial Day weekend... awesome.
The section after the tunnel was completely torn down and replaced. You come out and go over the Mass Pike, but then down to surface level, and the frontage roads connect with a commercial haul road up above. There was a point after about 1999 where the lanes shifted every couple of months as they put in a new section of viaduct. Got some surreal traffic jams out of that. (Northbound traffic swings east under Atlantic Ave.)
I was on the bridge one Sunday in the mid 80's. Traffic was backed up all the way from Revere. I asked the person in the toll booth if something happened. She said "You didn't hear? A 747 had to make an emergency landing on the bridge" She got me good for about a half second 😂
Am i the only one in pain watching them block the left lane the whole drive and the weaving over the line ever few seconds?
I think I saw Charles Stuart walking on the Tobin.
Beautiful ! 😂
Yeah, that was the CANA project (Central Artery-North Area). I'm not sure if it was considered part of the Big Dig or not, but it was coordinated pretty closely with it. Now, granted, the experience of driving on the Loop is somewhat like being stuck in a blender, but from what I understand it's a lot less harrowing than the original interchange.
Pretty much none of it between the Tobin downramp (approximately the location of the cranes at the beginning) and South Bay, save the Dewey Square tunnel. That was incorporated into the southbound O'Neill. The Tobin approaches were the first to go, then the Mass Pike overpasses; the original Artery structure itself came down over a space of about a year in 2002-2003. And believe me, it's not missed at all.
Isn't the Tobin still there?
@@Simcitywok I think it was rebuilt.
This video was shot just after I moved to NH(better than 8 months), originally from Watertown, Mass. I remember this piece of road very well, but I never had to commute it. I think I've used the big dig maybe 5 times since I moved, but those 5 times I felt like it was Boston's history all over again.
I'm waiting for the part with the notoriously bad traffic
Nice video
Dayum the old elevated central artery back in 1990 looks ancient compared to today's Boston of 2018 which everything looks clean and better now but there's more traffic then ever in Boston but not at the big dig tunnel highway parts.
Its all still there and then some
Wow I haven't seen these sights in.. 20 years maybe? I used to know all the exit ramps too, all the roads because everything was so scenic.. now I get lost in the tunnels cuz everything looks the damn same..
how the hell was that scenic? It was a damn eye sore
this is was filmed in December 1990
Most of it. The interchange they enter I-93 on is now on the other side of the elevated highway, and the old bridge was replaced with the Leonard Zakim Bridge, but the approach from the Tobin and the entire length of the Artery from the Garden to Dewey Square was put underground. The existing Dewey Square Tunnel was reconfigured as southbound only, with part of it as a feeder road to the Pike. The southern area at the end was changed too -- let me start another post.
@@griffin324 exit 17 was south concord
Oh, hey, wow, look: no SUVs! :j
Wow what a difference
Oh my god, this was every Christmas or Thanksgiving for our family. That was plenty.
This is so classic
The Accents!
Da noth end
The old "Noth" End 😂
“Noth”...does that spelling capture the accent perfectly or what?
@@swood33 oh yeah
those were the days
Anyone remember the traffic on the morning when that Canadian lumber truck crashed into a support pillar?
I remember it's was in 96 when that happened I was almost 14 back then, I heard the morning commute was a nightmare that morning. I remember that one very well.
At 2:39, im a courier driving a 77 chevy suburban in the left lane, when all of a sudden, an empty, full size keg comes flyin over the northbound side and hit the front of my bumper. It bounced off and went who knows where. Had to check me shorts.
P.S. I couldn't figure out why the TD Garden looked so weird...it's because it's the old garden!
The big dig was a great idea ,It was long overdue.but what it became for construction companies was a license to steal. So much federal money to throw around.Uncle sam wasnt watching the state house to busy to keep track.but it gave the north end a view of the city it never had.Driving the old southeast expressway was a nightmare.I will always love how boston looked in the 50s.
It put the city in permanent debt and didn't help traffic one bit.
Why did they got rid of the elevated central artery and built the tunnels instead?
Because they wanted to take your money. City officials knew you wouldn't say anything if they punked you
@@griffin324 that's the reason given but what is also well documented is that the cost of rebuilding the skyway and making it more durable was far less expensive for the residents but it was called an eye soar to quadrupole the cost. The people of boston got hustled
What happened to the old South Station Tunnel? I couldn't remember if it merged with Tip O'Neill Tunnel or not?!
it was merges on the southbound side only and extended exiting the tunnel; note, not 13' 9" as the sign stated at the beginning of the O'neal tunnel southbound.
still lots of traffic getting on and off the Tobin during morning and afternoon rush.
You're right. Big dig was a money grab more than it was a project
good video
So that’s what that huge platform in the middle of the Tobin bridge was for
Its crazy how many skyscrapers are over in the financial district to the left now compared to then 0:55
fun little flashback
I was like 9 when they demolished the highway i dont remember it too well
These scenes are as familiar to me as the back of my hand.
lol... i love this guy's wife telling him how to drive on the Tobin. some things never change
Actually, the wife is the one driving. He's holding the camera.
The cost of the big dig was high, but it allowed the traffic and highway cost to society to go down
Not true at all. All they did was move it from the skyway to underground. As well, some roads were made more narrow.
anyone who says they should have kept the Central Artery never had to drive it in icy winter conditions when elevated roads freeze first. and remember October 1973 when that truck hit a support pillar and all but put the Tobin Bridge out of commission? like utility wires, much better to put things underground.
Remember that concrete panel that crushed a woman in her car? And the icy roads would be much more preferable to the flooding of the tunnel system, because at least they can salt the roads and make them usable.
The Tobin Bridge support was hit AGAIN, in 1996. I remember I bought an 84 Mazda 626 LX from a guy in Somerville, who drove the car to me. I then drove him home to Somerville, after he followed me home to bring the car to my house, after I bought it from him, in my dad's 87 Honda Civic DX. I was caught in 5hr traffic from the Tobin mishap, on the way home. Awful.
When was this video shot? December 1990? If December, wouldn't it be snowing outside?
Yes it snows 24/7 in Boston in December usually resulting in 12,367 inches
Notice how better the traffic moves then! The Big Dig was outdated in the first year. Not to mention a totally fiasco of a mess.
Who knew a Saturday afternoon on a holiday weekend would have less congestion than a normal day in the city
@@willvazz9611 thats pretty dumb. Its memorial day weekend and most people travel and some travel on the weekend if they can't afford to do the whole weekend, just like these folks are doing in this vid. Point is, if you tried this a year ago minus civod 91, it would've been easily noticeable that traffic is far worse than ever.
Wow memories it
@1:52 The Last Marlboro Cowboy in The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts
Boston Traffic not as bad as it seems yes there’s a lot of traffic and it is one of the most difficult cities to navigate but it’s not nearly as bad as Atlanta or Baltimore and Washington DC areas
I moved from Boston to D.C. in '89 and can attest to the horrible gridlock on the Beltway.
@@ddivincenzo1194 hasn't changed. You can easily end up at a full stop in bumper to bumper traffic
I used to live in Chelsea
I used to drive that way every day coming into boston from the northshore the funny thing is it took the same amount of time then as it does now if anything it was quicker back then the big dig was just another project the people got screwed on
I can tell you're from Boston. Most of us know the big dig didn't do a lick but put the city in permanent debt. Twas a money grab
...and replaced with......deathtraps.
Omg toll takers RIP
You’re in the Zippah lane! Get ovah.
Unless you count vans.
Theyuh’s the old haaaaaymaaahkit
It's still there
Ugh-oh it’s Charlestown/sommerville 🤣🤣🤣
these are gone !
You spelt "Ahtery" wrong! 'Tis "Artery"!
'Tis true...a tribute to the Boston accent!
it was still quicker of a ride before this 20+ billion dollar debacle
It's US 1! Not Rt 1!
Thanks for pointing that out
Everyone around here calls it route 1
@@Bostonguy222 The point of the post was that everyone's calling a road "X" does not change its official name. Boston's proclivity for and patellar-reflex defense of parochialism - an aspect I love - distinguishes it from other cities.
still isn't totally complete!
Better an i90
That ‘bahstin ’ accent is making me cringe! And I live in Massachusetts…
I cant like the video guy....its at 617 likes righ now. (2024)