Costly Highway

Your story on Boston’s “Big Dig” (July 20) lacked a key element: government waste. When you started to tick off the costs (and where they went), it made me sick. Sound waves to warn the fish to swim away before a blast? How much was that?

That story is a prime example of what has gone wrong with this nation. If we need to pay $10 billion for a prettier road, just because we have a romantic notion that Boston is a cute city and it deserves saving, we are in big trouble.

RICHARD WEST

Costa Mesa