By Thanassis Cambanis, Globe Staff, 6/30/2003
There were speeches, ribbon cuttings, a festive walk-through for the people of Boston, and finally on March 30, an inaugural motorcade.
But the opening of the 11/2-mile Big Dig tunnel appears to have done little to shorten drive times for commuters south of the city.
Data collected by Smart Route Systems, an independent company with a state contract to monitor commuting time, indicate that the morning rush hour commute from Braintree to Boston has been shortened from 25 to 22 minutes since the tunnel opened.
Echoing that, more than 100 commuters who responded to a Globe survey on Boston.com said the tunnel had brought only marginal benefits to their travel.
''I thought the new tunnel was going to alleviate traffic,'' said Anne-Marie Taylor, who commutes weekdays from Holbrook to Charlestown. ''But it's only for that five minutes that I get to go under the city. Getting to the tunnel, and after the tunnel, is horrific. Everybody knows that it's the road from hell.''
''Since the tunnel has opened, traffic has been at a standstill more often and is congested more often,'' said Jennifer Tardelli of Hingham. ''It doesn't make sense to me. So far, the new tunnel hasn't served me.''
The opening of the northbound Liberty Tunnel is among the most significant milestones yet in the ambitious $14.6 billion project that seeks to stitch together Boston's downtown while speeding the flow of traffic through and into the city.
It also affects the group that perhaps more than any other represents the suffering of Boston area drivers, those who commute to Boston from suburbs south of the city.
Big Dig officials acknowledge that the morning commute from the south has not been significantly quickened by the opening of the tunnel. They say there are several reasons: For one, the new highway has attracted thousands more cars a day. They say a series of improvements over the next two years, including direct connections to Interstate 90 from Interstate 93, will make the road more efficient.
In addition, the congestion that frequently frustrates commuters from the south - the backup at Exit 18 to Massachusetts Avenue - still persists and may have worsened since the tunnel's opening.
Turnpike officials advise patience.
''You're still dealing with an unfinished construction project,'' cautioned Matthew J. Amorello, chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which oversees the Big Dig. ''We're not done yet.''
Big Dig officials also say projects such as the Ted Williams tunnel already have improved driving around Boston.
Though far fewer cars travel on I-93 from Braintree to Boston during the evening rush hour, travel time has dropped significantly, from 25 to 15 minutes, according to Smart Routes Systems.
Once the project is complete, the Big Dig plans to undertake its own study of travel time.
For now, the only available data are from Smart Route Systems, which has been tracking drive times on highways in Greater Boston since 1991 for use by television, radio, and its own automated telephone information line.
The company's estimated commuting times on I-93 north are an average of actual drive times reported by drivers of Massport Logan Express buses, who travel from Braintree to Logan Airport every half hour.
On each trip, the drivers radio in the length of time it takes them to travel from the Route 3 and Route 128 split in Braintree to Exit 20 in Boston, where they depart the highway for Logan Airport.
In addition, in an agreement with Smart Route Systems similar to one in which Nielsen families report their television viewing, dozens of commuters call the company every hour and report how long it took them to drive from the Braintree split to the entrance of the new Central Artery tunnel.
The company defines morning rush hour as 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., and evening rush hour as 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Without traffic, according to Smart Routes Systems, the ride from Braintree to Boston would take only 10 minutes.
One reason the tunnel's opening has not eased the northbound commute more dramatically is the miles of backup that ripple all the way south to Milton, stemming mainly from dozens of cars trying to exit I-93 at Massachusetts Avenue, south of the tunnel.
That spot, Exit 18, known in traffic engineering circles as ''the exit to everywhere,'' leads to Massachusetts Avenue, Albany Street, and South Boston.
Some drivers also use the exit to avoid expressway traffic, following the extended offramp that eventually connects to Exit 20 for South Station and the Massachusetts Turnpike.
''While I can now get through downtown in just a couple of minutes, getting to the Mass. Ave. curve has become a nightmare,'' said Ralph Perrotto, who drives from Pembroke to Tufts University in Medford every day. ''The opening of the northbound tunnel has not reduced my commute one minute.''
Complicating that stretch, two major exits come rapidly after one another, Exits 18 and 20, and many cars are moving into the right lane at the same time.
That should be eased somewhat when the direct link to I-90 is built, which will move Exit 20 farther north and ease the stretch around Exit 18.
In addition, offramp exits inside the tunnel will be widened before the project is complete, which should alleviate tie-ups.
Until then, Sean Sullivan may continue his detours to try to avoid the traffic. Sullivan commutes 60 miles each way from Dartmouth to Kenmore Square, entering I-93 about 6:45 a.m. He said he often exits the highway at Milton because of congestion, taking back roads into Boston.
''The newly opened portions of the Big Dig have made almost no impact on the time it takes for me to get to work,'' Sullivan said. ''I would say that out of 10 days that I drive to work, maybe one day it makes a positive effect.''
Big Dig officials say that despite the frustrations of commuting from the south, there is evidence that more people are using the new roadway.
On a Thursday in June, according to traffic volume counts collected by a contractor for the Big Dig, almost 9,000 more cars pass Kneeland Street on I-93 northbound, just before the tunnel entrance, raising the number of cars to 61,815. That amounts to a 17 percent increase in traffic during a 24-hour period.
The increase is even more pronounced during morning rush hour, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., when traffic volume at the same point has increased by 37 percent, to 8,509 cars.
''Traffic flow is better, and it will get even better,'' Glen A. Berkowitz, traffic milestone manager for the Big Dig.
''I-93 northbound used to be congested eight or nine hours a day. That's been reduced to two to three hours a day.''
This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 6/30/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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