Case Study: Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel Project

Case Study: Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel Project

David Stewart

ITT Tech Online

(PM 341) Project Cost and Budget Management

Christoph Verstegen

June 15, 2011

The Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel (CA/T) Project began in 1983 with an original completion date of 1998, with an initial budget of $2.5 Billon. This massive project faced vast technical and logistic challenges of building 161 lane miles of highway, half of which were to be constructed underground. The project at peak construction required five thousand workers, excavation of 16 million cubic yards of soil, and 3.8 million cubic yards of concrete (Venkataraman and Pinto). Only a mature Project Manager, capable of effectively assessing all options before spending millions of dollars, should undertake a project of this magnitude as a well-defined and structured management process is vital to cost and value management in a project. The project manager for this project had the responsibility to detect and prevent design and construction errors in each phase of the project as part of the value management plan that is integrated with the cost management plan; a change in one will affect the other. This failure of responsibility was evident with the collapse of a cement-ceiling panel. Failure to negotiate in the change order process:

* Who wants the change, and why?

* What are the potential advantages and consequences?

* What are the potential effects on schedule and budget?

* What are the alternatives?

* Is the change being proposed to overcome a hidden problem?

* What would be the consequences of refusing the change?

* What do other stakeholders recommend about the proposed change?

* When and how should the change be best implemented?

The later into a project that these change requests arrive, the more expensive and significant their negative impact on the project is likely to be (Venkataraman and Pinto).

Project success requires two key elements; managing costs to...