The Big Dig

Who cares about a tunnel!

 

    The Big Dig was a multifaceted project that replaced I-93 in Boston with an underground highway, two bridges over the Charles River, extended I-90 to Logan International Airport, and reconnected downtown Boston to the waterfront.  Planning began 1982 amid debate over the many challenges that lay ahead.  Congress approved federal funding to support the project in 1987.  Construction began in September 1991 on a bypass and one of the Big Dig's name-sake tunnels under Boston Harbor. The first tunnel was opened and dedicated on January 13, 2006.  It was named after Red Sox great Ted Williams who accumulate a life-time batting average of .344 and hit 521 home runs in his 21 years with the Sox!

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

     My pick for America's worst city would be New York or L. A..  I have been both places and I will never willingly go back to either if I have a choice!  But I have purposely eliminated Gotham and other behemoths that sucks "professionally".  I chose one that sucks "horridly in an amateurish kind of way".  Some of my considerations were: cost of living, crime rates and potential for natural disaster.  New York certainly has the worst cost of living in the country since it has a COL index of 400.  With an index of 160, not even Honolulu can top that.

     My choice for the worst city in the U.S. is .........drum roll,please .......... Memphis, Tennessee..  The crime rate in Memphis is one of the highest in the country.  This city of 660,000 has a crime rate of 18.06 crimes per 1000 people.  New York has a rate of 5.52.  The murder rate is 0.2 per 1000 people while New York stands at 0.06.  You are over 3 times as likely to be killed in Memphis than in New York.
     Memphis also sits way too close to the New Madrid Seismic Zone.  The last major quake along the New Madrid was in 1812.  The area is due for a shake-up any time now.  Memphis also sits at the east end of Tornado Alley.  The potential for a natural disaster there is too high for me.
     Although it is a dangerous place to live, Memphis does have a few redeeming qualities.  Of course, it has Beale Street, home of the Memphis blues, which is a fun place to visit.  Memphis isn't particularly flood-prone even though it sits on the Mississippi River because most of it sits on a high bluff.  The cost of living is good, too.  With a COL index of 86, Memphis is actually a cheaper place to live than Macon where the COL index is 100.  I think the low cost of living will be irrelevant to me if someone kills me, don't you?  Maybe the cost of dying (COD) ain't bad either.  The executor of my "estate" (lol) might get a real deal on a funerary plot!
                            Stay tuned!  The "best city" is yet to come!

     My choice for the best U. S. city is ... Macon just jokin'!  My pick is Austin, Tx..  Having maligned a historic southern city, I feel the need to do penance.  Austin is a city of of nearly 800,000.  I chose it because it is in the south!  (Hey, you asked ME, remember!  I want to live in a place where an old man can appreciate the culture without having to stretch too far.)  But Austin has a lot going for it.  Money magazine voted it the #2 best big city in the nation. The COL is good at 94 although the economic growth rate is just barely keeping up with inflation at a mediocre 3.5%.  I also think Austin would be a good place to live because nature is usually cooperative with its residents. Tornadoes are not common because Austin is south of Tornado Alley.  The area has had a few earthquakes over the last 200 years but they have been weak and far between because the area is not very active geologically.

     Austin has one significant drawback.  Although it is far enough south to avoid having a high frequency of tornadoes, it still gets its share of heavy thunderstorms. That seems to be pretty common most anywhere these days.  Flash floods do occur in the Austin area but I think I would like to live there one day anyway.
       I have found one thing to be true in researching this Blog; no big city is perfect.  That doesn't mean your spot in it can't be close!
     Post Script:  You didn't ask what piece of this great country was the best.  That would have been really tough to decide ... but chances are, it would probably be sorta south and sorta east!