What dirty little secret does your profession hide that the consumer should know?

Yup. The Big Dig is an civil engineering fuckup that is impressive even by the august standards of Massachusetts. Leaky and lethal in many ways, from the ceiling tiles to the so-called "ginsu railings" that have sliced people in half. And let's not forget so hilariously over budget that it's become the most expensive road construction project in the history of the country, as Wikipedia reports:

...the project was completed in December 2007 at a cost of over $14.6 billion ($8.08 billion in 1982 dollars, meaning a cost overrun of about 190%) as of 2006. The Boston Globe estimated that the project will ultimately cost $22 billion, including interest, and that it would not be paid off until 2038.

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent