How a power struggle over a Massachusetts Turnpike toll hike jeopardized Boston's Big Dig funding

[@dfoleyusa]

This series is phenomenal.

[@johnduchesneau8685]

Who needs true crime stories when you can have Massachusetts politics instead?

[@bretsk2500]

They can definitely be one and the same.

[@295g295]

19:10 - I think only Connecticut did that.

[@295g295]

19:00 - Toll roads were built by states before the US Congress began to fund the Interstate highway system.

[@295g295]

.. Richmond - Petersburg Virginia too

[@brianvernaglia9449]

This i a great series! I have been listening and watching intently. At 51 as a life long MA resident, I never really knew what was happening beyond the "Scheme Z" and "Budget Overrun" headlines.

[@romanmarcus14]

This is the best podcast ever. Some how this episode turned into House of Cards / West Wing / Came of thrones. But it has todo with the Big dig.

[@franciscampagna2711]

When I started watching, as a former New Yorker, "Robert Moses" immediately came to mind. Thank you.

[@carkmagus6219]

This series is not only so well done but highlights so many areas where our government can fail

[@EdisonRex]

I heard the name Jordan Levy and I thought I remembered that name. I lived in Worcester (at WPI) early to mid 80s. He was the mayor there wasn't he. I didn't know he just passed away a month ago either. This episode is fascinating. It is telling how many of the people involved declined to be interviewed. This is a great series, well done.

[@bretsk2500]

Same, but I was at WPI a decade later.

[@bretsk2500]

The amount of memories I've never considered remembering are all being drug up by this series. kudos to GBH!

[@rapman5791]

Free The Pike!!!! Doug Barth had them all sweating Tolls should have been abolished years ago

[@Sordesman]

I've never been more interested in a series than this one.

[@CynicalDriver]

Congrats on another phenomenal episode! These have become highlights of my weeks for me.

[@GBHNews]

We are so glad to hear it!

[@byDahlia]

This series is SOO good. New episode made my day :)

[@GBHNews]

We are so glad!!

[@tu__tone]

This series is amazing. I have been absolutely hooked. Waiting on each new episode like a new season of Yellowstone. Not to mention I’m from NJ, but still this is fascinating, very well done, impressive research and great attention to details. ‘The Big Dig’ has always been on my mind for some reason 😂 and this series is a MUST for any other heavy highway construction nuts like me. Five Star rating, 10 out of 10. This is good content.

[@Patrick-fe6ly]

One of the best doc-u-series. 🎉 bravo. Seriously enjoy every moment. Thank you.

[@disastrophi]

I’m all caught up! This is just what I was hoping to watch tonight 🎉 many thanks again for this lovely documentary ❤

[@GBHNews]

Thank you for watching!

[@rollinwithunclepete824]

I usually love process stories... seeing things get built. But this is also a process story. A most enthralling process story! Thank you so much.

[@AutumnBosco]

God this is such a good series

[@jameslumbley1476]

I found this series whilst researching The Big DIg, for my own knowledge... Just wanted to say, this was exceptionally well made - From the in-depth nature, to editing, script, narration. I hope to see more from you soon, good luck.

[@allyip5777]

Thank you for filling in the part of history I have not experienced in my home state. I was serving in the Army during the OIF… I never even know we had a governor named “Jane Swift” and boy, she has more balls than many men I know, for better or worse.

[@Xsiondu]

This just keeps on being great

[@keiththoma2559]

The main issue is lack of competence for board members and not understanding what was needed to run it. At the end of the day the legislature should mandate qualifications and competence for anyone on a board of a public authority.

[@jnagarya519]

Political patronage. I knew Mihos. Utterly arrogant born into wealth. Quintessential example of privilege. Street named after him. At the end he lost his money to gambling, prostitutes, and resultant divorce settlement.

[@rapman5791]

No, you had it right!! Everyone lost when Mitt was let loose on The Commonwealth.

[@Ebooger]

In NYS anyway, authorities were created for one reason and one reason only: to evade the state's constitutional requirement for a balanced budget.

[@YesItsMeGuys68]

This was an outstanding series. Bravo to all who created this.

[@joebehrdenver]

This series is top tier. (Also, that poor tool both guy. He got lots of air time!)

[@jergervasi3331]

Great series.

[@Kezza12tre]

What a fantastic series

[@bobl6139]

Christy Mihos would have been a great governor

[@scottleung9587]

Yeah, he would've been entertaining - that's for sure. And he probably would've handled the Big Dig much better.

[@robalderman6979]

That acadia green Subaru 2.5 rs with the gold wheels at 50:36...rare care today

[@8bitorgy]

Jane Swift was either utterly clueless or paralyzingly corrupt. I hope the door didn't hit her on the way out

[@sunsetlights100]

But she was working for the state ? Meri go round

[@sitdowndogbreath]

Yeah she was inconfident

[@8bitorgy]

when I see big dig I click

[@EricBlackmer]

Wow! I didn't know about this. From a distance it all seemed to be just the way things rolled in Massatwoshits.

[@Hollandsemum2]

The toll issue sounds like Chicago. Part of the highway system had tolls that were meant to stop within something like 20 years of completion. Instead, they were then continued to cover 'repairs and maintenance'. All of these places find a way to keep the tolls. The PA turnpike is one of the oldest interstates, and I've never known it to not have tolls over my lifetime (plenty long). There's also the NJ turnpike, but it's always been messy. Does anyone know a highway that promised to drop tolls after a while and actually did? The Big Dig became so infamous that it was like a grim comedy for the rest of the nation.

[@danam0228]

Another part of this state that I hate, the Turnpike. The Turnpike Authority was supposed to be dissolved years ago, but because of the Ted Williams Tunnel being tacked onto the Turnpike and being part of the Big Dig, the Authority was given a new lease on life to unfairly collect money from everyone west of Boston to pay for rhe prohect. Despicable!!!

[@jnagarya519]

Christy Mihos was born into wealth. His family owned a supermarket that charged the maximum in the market. Then he expanded it into a chain. Selling made his even more wealthy. And he never let anyone forget that he was "better than" those who weren't of his "class". And then he blew it on gambling and hookers.

[@Poorschedriver]

40:56 This is quite possibly the most Massachusetts thing I've ever seen right here. Politics in the Bay State is just a different animal. In the end, you really can't blame the board. It was always the fault of the legislature creating a 3 member board accountable to no one.

[@rapman5791]

Labeling Jordan Levy as “the radio host “ shows just how disingenuous the producer is. Instead of giving him the respect of the office of Mayor (which he was) , Jordan Levy was the Mayor of the second largest city in Massachusetts (Worcester), but he’s just a radio host according to this narrator.

[@kennethvenezia4400]

Wow!😮 Did you write & play your own music for this?🙀🙀

[@sarcasmo57]

Crazy story man.

[@bopete3204]

We stan a road tolling queen 👑 Pricing driving is the only way to reduce congestion, and with all the negative externalities of driving, it doesn't warrant subsidization.

[@bloodorange6713]

Effective public transport reduces cars. Charging people more to drive simply punishes the poor and rewards those with enough money to not care. Meanwhile, everyone still keeps driving because the T is so broken.

[@Heyu7her3]

​@@bloodorange6713 they're not using the pike

[@bloodorange6713]

@@Heyu7her3 I can assure you many people commute on the Mass Pike

[@RandallFlaggNY]

$50 million? What a joke of an offer. Did Bechtel ever get sued and pay up? I doubt it.

[@jnagarya519]

Romney promised that if elected governor -- he was pro-choice -- he wouldn't use it as a platform to run for president. Halfway through his term as governor he declared his candidacy for president as anti-choice.

[@rapman5791]

The original Turnpike livery had an arrow shooting through a pilgrim hat. That stood for decades until someone got their panties in a bunch and just like Aunt Jemima it was no more.

[@295g295]

65 years ago the Central Artery was built by Mass-Pike?

[@rapman5791]

Jane who??? 😂😂😂

[@scottleung9587]

Not sure, but she definitely took "Swift" action in firing Mihos and Levy. Guess that makes her an "anti-hero"?

[@franciscampagna2711]

New York Thruway was paid off decades ago, and tolls supposed to be removed. Tolls are still there.

[@johnmonachelli5256]

For 26k a year 2 days a month is acceptable

[@LVRugger]

Hell, I'd do that today, let alone over 20 years ago.

[@jnagarya519]

Then Republican Mihos was booted from his patronage job, given him for his vote by a Republican. So he sued all the way to the highest state court -- he had plenty of money to throw at lawyers -- to get the "job" back and lost. That suit must have cost him a quarter-million.

[@c182SkylaneRG]

Wait... but the Pike STILL isn't toll-free... For that matter, neither are I-95 or I-93 in NH.

[@bloodorange6713]

It is complete bullshit that tolls still exist on the Pike

[@jnagarya519]

Jordan Levy, Right-wing Republican talk show host and know-it-all. Mihos would run for governor with the usual bizarre Republican policies -- totally unrelated to reality.

[@ksuen106]

wtf YT algorithm, this 💩 keeps coming up on autoplay.

[@michaellalli4415]

Love this series. But why does the sound designer hate the viewers? It's like they sought out annoying background music they could possibly find.

[@Heyu7her3]

It's a podcast

[@reelsouthernadventures9933]

Only democrats could screw up a roll booth.