The Big Dig

Time is running out for Massachusetts to pass healthcare reform. The bill’s fate now rests with the two old friends who run the state legislature and control everything that happens there. Unfortunately, these old friends have stopped talking. 

The controversial centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act – the requirement for all Americans to purchase health insurance – began its strange political journey at the conservative Heritage Foundation. In deep blue Massachusetts the mandate was considered a fringe idea, until it lands on Governor Romney’s desk. 

After their bruising senate campaign, Kennedy and Romney reunite for a mission to lobby the Bush administration. At stake: more than a billion dollars of federal money that is propping up the state’s entire healthcare system. 

In the midst of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon reaches out to his rival Ted Kennedy and offers him a deal – a one time chance to reshape American healthcare, which might also save Nixon’s doomed presidency. Will the young senator take the deal?

Mitt Romney’s first political campaign was not for president or governor; it was for the U.S. Senate, and it was against Ted Kennedy. Early on the challenger looks unstoppable – handsome, eloquent, moderate – then the Kennedy camp starts digging into Romney’s past.  --- Special thanks to FRONTLINE for archival sound from The Long March of Newt Gingrich & The Health Care Gamble . 

Healthcare is the problem American politics cannot solve. It’s the subject of screaming matches at town halls, the cause of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, the justification for political assassination in cold blood. But how did our most basic need become such a divisive issue? In Season Four of The Big Dig podcast, "Mitt & Ted", we tell the origin story of national healthcare...

September 11th changed the world forever; but in particular, it changed airports. In this special episode of The Big Dig, we go inside the world of Logan Airport – the place where the 9/11 attacks began – to tell the story of how that day unfolded, and how it transformed everything from security screening and terminal design, to restaurants, lounges, and luxury boutiques. 

How do these things all connect: Wu-Tang Clan, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, and the largest garbage dump in the world? That story is the subject of a new series from the podcast Revisionist History called “The Staten Island Problem.” The series reconstructs the largest secession movement in the U.S. since the Civil War – how it nearly tore New York City apart, and how it foreshadows the politics o...

Our show now has three seasons in the feed, and it just dawned on Ian that every topic we’ve covered also happens to be a rich topic in American song: highways, gambling, and fishing. So today we share a special playlist curated by singer, songwriter and record collector Eli "Paperboy" Reed. Hear the full playlist here .  Pre order 'Getting There' by Eli "Paperboy" Reed here . 

The final chapter of the Big Dig story is what happened to the land after the highway was gone. Like the rest of the project, it was messy, and other cities would be wise to learn from it.  Guests: Stephanie Pollack, Chris Cook Recorded live at the MIT Museum

The Big Dig in Boston was a fluke, a unicorn, something we may never see again. But there are simpler and cheaper ways to rethink our urban highways – Providence, RI tried one.  Guests: Edward Fitzpatrick, Zack Cunha, Mike Lewis Recorded live with Globe Rhode Island at CIC Providence Hear the full Washington Bridge Blues playlist here

Even as cities try to heal the damage of the interstate era, we are also continuing to expand our urban highways, continuing to turn parks and neighborhoods into new lanes and new off-ramps. So why is it so hard to stop? Guests: Inga Saffron, Daniel Pearson, Leslie Richards Recorded at The Pen & Pencil Club with support from Miles Bryan and Tom Grahsler

This episode is about a very different kind of teardown – one that came suddenly, tragically, and without warning. But within this utterly unique story there are some universal questions about how we build for the present and the future. Guests: Johnny Olszewski, Samantha Biddle, Wambui Kamau, Arkia Wade, Klaus Philipsen Recorded live with WYPR at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

In the stories we tell about public works, there is a constant bias towards the projects that actually happened, but it’s the apparently ‘failed’ projects that can often teach us the most.  Guests: Marcus Green, Tyler Allen, Ken Herndon Recorded live with LPM at the LPM Performance Studio.

The anti-highway movement, like any movement, has always been a coalition. Different people with different backgrounds and different interests finding a common cause. But sometimes the coalition cracks.  Guests: Lillian Karabaic, Shawn Granton, Sharon Gary-Smith, Chris Smith Recorded live with Oregon Public Broadcasting at Literary Arts in East Portland. 

There is exactly one other American city crazy enough to attempt anything like what Boston did with The Big Dig. That city is Seattle, and they are not done tearing down highways.  Guests: Joshua McNichols, Greg Nickels, Cayce James, José Manuel Vasquez Recorded live with KUOW at the Seattle Public Library. Archival audio courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives

How did the Austin City Council find themselves locked in a ‘death match’ over what to do about Interstate 35? Two councilors and two journalists talk through the fraught politics of so-called highway caps.  Guests: Megan Kimble, Nathan Bernier, José “Chito” Vela, Mike Siegel Recorded live at the KUT Festival in Austin, TX.

Once the highway is gone, can the divisions these structures created actually be healed? Can the people on either side become neighbors again? Rochester, NY is trying to answer that question. Guests: Erik Frisch, Brian Sharp, Shawn Dunwoody, Suzanne Mayer Recorded live at the WXXI studios in Rochester, NY.

Is it possible to re-write the Interstate map and send highways around cities instead of through them? Syracuse, NY is doing just that.  Guests: Marie Therese Dominguez, Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, Joe Driscoll Recorded live in partnership with WRVO and the Syracuse Museum of Science and Technology.

What to do with the BQE? It’s a one of a kind highway in desperate need of repair, but no one can agree how to fix it.  Guests: Polly Trottenberg, Lara Birnback, Stephen Nessen Recorded live at WNYC’s Greenspace. Archival audio courtesy of Municipal Archives, City of New York.

Every American city is divided by crumbling old highways. Every city is trying to figure out what to do with them. But even if the problems with these structures are obvious, the solutions are not – often they are contentious. Welcome to The Big Dig Highway Teardown Tour.

In the 1980s, six women on an island off the coast of Massachusetts began selling lobster rolls as a church fundraiser. Today, people travel by car, boat, and plane just to taste these hallowed summer treats.  Today we bring you an episode from one of our favorite food podcasts, “The Sporkful”, in which host Dan Pashman travels to Martha’s Vineyard to uncover Grace Church’s secret recipe. Plus, Da...

Buying fish can be a puzzling process. It comes frozen and fresh, wild and farmed, from many different countries, and with all kinds of ratings and labels. So what does it all mean? For this bonus episode to “Catching The Codfather,” Ian sits down with a legend of New England seafood, Roger Berkowitz, to talk about his life in fish buying and what he’s learned along the way.  Major sponsorship for...

John Vecchione represented a group of fishermen who challenged government regulations all the way to the Supreme Court. Together, they helped overturn the decades-old “Chevron Doctrine,” which has been cited thousands of times in federal court rulings. But Vecchione is not done, and you might be surprised to learn what regulations he is challenging next.  For a very different take on the future of...

A new revelation forces federal investigators to close down the case, fast. But what will taking down The Codfather mean for the port of New Bedford? Major sponsorship for "Catching The Codfather" is provided by Roger’s Fish Co. --------------------------- Credits: Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss Story Editor: Lacy Ro...