The Big Dig

GBH News

Seemingly dry topics become gripping political dramas in this Peabody Award winning show from creator Ian Coss and GBH News. Each season of “The Big Dig” uncovers a different facet of society – infrastructure, gambling, food, healthcare – together the pieces connect to tell the story of modern America.

Season One: The Big Dig

The highway project known as “The Big Dig” is infamous – a shorthand for government failure – but it all started as one engineer’s dream to correct the wrongs of the past, and its legacy is far from simple.

Season Two: Scratch & Win

America’s most successful state lottery – and its greatest innovation, the scratch ticket – all starts with mafia bookmakers and state bureaucrats going toe to toe in a battle to own the future of gambling.

Season One: The Big Dig

Season Two: Scratch & Win

16hr 47min

Thumbnail for "Introducing Season One: The Big Dig".

Can America still do big things?

September 13, 20235min 3sec6.07 MB

Thumbnail for "BONUS: A note from the team".

June 12, 20242min 50sec3.41 MB

Thumbnail for "The Big Dig | 1. We Were Wrong".

There is a strange irony behind the Big Dig: the most expensive highway project ever built in America began with a man who hated highways.

September 27, 202354min 17sec65.16 MB

Thumbnail for "The Big Dig | 2. Unholy Alliance".

In the early 1970s a radical idea took shape: tearing down Boston’s elevated downtown highway, and rebuilding it underground.

September 27, 202352min62.43 MB

Thumbnail for "The Big Dig | 4. The Double Cross".

The project faces an unexpected challenge on the home front: resistance from local environmentalists and residents.

October 11, 202356min 5sec67.32 MB

Thumbnail for "The Big Dig | 5. Hatchet Man vs. the 800 Pound Gorilla".

In 1991, the Big Dig is handed off to a new leader – the brash, aggressive, hatchet-toting Jim Kerasiotes – who makes it clear he plans to shake things up.

October 18, 202353min 37sec64.36 MB

Thumbnail for "The Big Dig | 6. The Up Down Charts".

As work progresses through the 1990s and the tunnels take shape, the true cost of the Big Dig remains unknown to the public.

October 25, 202350min 7sec60.16 MB

Thumbnail for "The Big Dig | 7. The Turnpike Revolt".

By the year 2000, the Big Dig has passed through many hands, but in its final years a power struggle spills into public view.

November 1, 202356min 34sec67.9 MB

Thumbnail for "The Big Dig | 8. I Want Justice for What Happened".

Just as the project turns the corner towards completion, its entire legacy becomes clouded.

November 8, 202356min 59sec68.4 MB

Thumbnail for "The Big Dig | 9. Hearts and Minds".

It’s been fifty years since the Big Dig was first conceived, thirty years since construction began, more than a dozen years since it was completed.

November 15, 202337min 32sec45.06 MB

Thumbnail for "Introducing Season Two: Scratch & Win".

The unlikely rise of America’s most successful lottery

January 22, 20254min 2sec4.85 MB

Thumbnail for "Scratch & Win | 1. The Instant Ticket".

January 29, 202549min 36sec57.18 MB

Thumbnail for "Scratch & Win | 2. The Lottery Czar".

January 29, 202556min 50sec66.92 MB

Thumbnail for "Scratch & Win | 3. Have You Played Your Number?".

February 5, 202550min 52sec59.76 MB

Thumbnail for "Scratch & Win | 4. The Last Mafia Boss of Boston".

February 12, 202543min 48sec50.83 MB

Thumbnail for "Scratch & Win | 5. The Cherry Sheets".

February 19, 202556min 2sec66.37 MB

Thumbnail for "Scratch & Win | 6. The Game Dreams Are Made Of".

February 26, 202545min 59sec48.16 MB

Thumbnail for "Scratch & Win | 7. The Dirtiest Race in the Commonwealth".

March 5, 202551min 5sec59.85 MB

Thumbnail for "Scratch & Win | 8. The Other Massachusetts Miracle".

March 12, 202546min 32sec54.86 MB

Thumbnail for "BONUS: Why does sports betting feel different?".

March 19, 202549min 5sec47.13 MB

Thumbnail for "BONUS: Should we be nostalgic for machine politics?".

March 26, 202539min 10sec37.62 MB

Thumbnail for "BONUS: Why do some parts of government work better than others?".

April 2, 202543min 55sec42.18 MB

Thumbnail for "BONUS: How to sue the government, and win".

April 9, 202545min 20sec43.54 MB

Introducing Season One: The Big Dig

September 13, 20235min 3sec

Can America still do big things? Can we build the ambitious projects we will need to survive climate change and improve our cities? This 9-part series looks for clues in the story of the Big Dig – one of the most notoriously troubled infrastructure projects in American history.

The nine episode series is produced by GBH News.

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He