No injuries were reported Tuesday morning after an explosion at a Deep Tunnel construction site in South Holland, but there have been at least 15 worker deaths on the seemingly unending project, begun in 1975. Here’s how the Deep Tunnel stacks up against some other well-known public works efforts.
Chicago Deep Tunnel
Purpose: Divert stormwater and sewage, reducing flooding and health risks
Built: 1975-2029 (estimated completion)
Worker deaths: At least 15
Total cost: $3.3 billion
Length when finished: 110 miles
Myth: According to legend, 90,000 Chicagoans died of typhoid fever and cholera in 1885, leading to the creation of the Chicago Sanitary District (now the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District). Though the Chicago Sanitary District was created in 1889 for the purpose of managing water and wastewater issues, no known record of the deaths exists.
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Panama Canal
Purpose: Maritime trade conduit linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
Built: 1904-1914, excluding an earlier 19th Century attempt by the French
Worker deaths: 5,600 (plus 20,000 during the earlier French attempt)
Total cost: $375 million by the U.S., including a combined $50 million paid to Panama and to the French, who’d spent $260 million on their try.
Length: 51 miles
Myth: Some have suggested that Sen. John McCain’s 1936 birth in the Panama Canal Zone makes him ineligible to serve as president of the United States. But because the Panama Canal was under U.S. control at the time, McCain is a U.S. citizen.
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Interstate highway system
Purpose: Increase traffic safety, relieve traffic congestion, boost the economy and aid the national defense
Built: 1956-? (some routes still not complete)
Worker deaths: Unknown
Total cost: $129 billion, well over the original $25 billion estimate
Length: 47,000 miles
Myth: Some have theorized that sections of interstate highways are built straight to accommodate the landing of aircraft. But “no legislation, regulation, or policy has ever imposed such a requirement,” according to the Federal Highway Administration’s website.
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The Big Dig
Purpose: To reroute and connect interstate highways in Boston to each other, to local highways and to Logan International Airport
Built: 1991-2007
Worker deaths: 3
Total cost: $14.8 billion
Length: 7.5 miles of roads, tunnels and bridges
Myth: Travel times were expected to decrease as a result of the project, but a 2008 Boston Globe report indicated that travel times actually rose because of more vehicles using the routes.
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The Great Wall of China
Purpose: Originally intended to protect the Chinese Empire’s northern borders against invasion
Built: A series of walls constructed primarily from the 5th century BC through the 16th Century, with some sections since restored
Worker deaths: Unknown, though some estimates exceed 1 million
Total cost: Unclear, though it may have been quite affordable because, hey, it was made in China
Length: 4,000 miles
Myth: Ripley’s and others have contended that the Great Wall is visible from the moon. But to see it from the moon would require vision 17,000 times greater than that possessed by humans, according to the Journal of Optometry.
