Those who do not heed history . . .

FF reminded me this morning about a topic that I've sort of let slide to the backburner, ever since the final approval was given to this project, thus ending any chance of stopping it before it was too late. In other words, it's too late.

So, have you been following this ridiculousness that is the Port Authority's tunnel under the Allegheny River to connect the downtown T to the North Shore, so that already overweight Pittsburghers don't have to walk over the many bridges available to them to get from downtown to the North Shore? The project has an estimated cost of $435 million, which is a lot of money to be spending on a tunnel under the Allegheny River by the same Port Authority that has been notoriously poorly run in recent years and just recently reduced service by 15% with a fare increase expected in January.

Seriously, has no one in Pittsburgh ever heard of the so-called "chunnel" in Boston under the Charles River that was once referred to as "The Big Dig?" It was a disaster of monumental proportions for the tax-paying citizens of Boston. And they're still having problems with it, not to mention paying for it. For instance, as I saw firsthand during a visit to Boston just a couple of years ago, water leaking into the tunnels and turning into very dangerous ice during the winter months, which in Boston pretty much includes November through April.

Since I occasionally like to make predictions, I predict that this will be the biggest boondoggle around here since the release of "The New Coke." It will run grossly overbudget, it will encounter numerous unforeseen and unplanned for problems, and it will be a subject of contention around these parts for years to come. Hell, it's already begun: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07207/804514-147.stm

Unfortunately, the Port Authority won't have the luxury of just re-releasing its old formula and slapping the name "Classic" on it.