Boston Sight to See: a Hole in the Ground

Fanueil Hall, the Freedom Trail and downtown Boston’s other popular tourist attractions are facing unexpected competition this summer from a beguiling neighbor with an $11-billion budget.

Unlike most everything else in Boston, this 2-year-old hot spot is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Admission is free. Earplugs cost extra.

Locals call the massive Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project the “Big Dig.” The downtown portion is known as the most ambitious transportation public works project in U.S. history, and it has become an increasingly popular spot for gawkers.

“We expected people to stop and want to look at the work,” said Ann Davis, a project spokeswoman. “It’s interesting.”

And the work is impressive.

In addition to other Big Dig-related projects across the city, downtown construction crews are systematically destroying 1 1/2 elevated miles of Interstate 93, a six-lane stretch that cuts a swath through the heart of the city.

During the next three years, it will be sunk into an underground tunnel and replaced by a 27-acre tree-lined public plaza. Meanwhile, Boston’s busy downtown district is pockmarked by huge, half-dug asphalt pits.

“It looks like an earthquake hit,” said Hawaii resident Ted Willett during a business trip to Boston. “It would definitely be easier to move the city than build the tunnel.”

Unlike Bostonians, tourists don’t seem overly bothered by the exhaust fumes, the fine white dust or the oppressive din of machines, shouting workers and rumbling dump trucks.

They stop, stare and study the Big Dig informational signs in German, Spanish and Japanese.

The biggest Big Dig fans are young children, who cling to their parents, mesmerized by the machinery, noise and confusion.

“He wasn’t so interested in the aquarium,” said Wilmington electrician Jimmy Dee as he hoisted his 3-year-old son, Matthew, for a better view. “All he kept saying was that he wanted to see the trucks.”