An exploration of the nexus of the public and private sectors in the project management organizations for two boston megaprojects: The central artery/tunnel project and the Boston Harbor cleanup

Across the nation, citizens entrust public officials with the responsibility for spending billions of dollars to design and construction public works projects. Those officials have difficult decisions to make about how to craft their project management organizations, including choices about the extent to which they will rely on private parties to get the job done. This dissertation explores three different public-private arrangements in two Boston megaprojects: the $3.8 billion Boston Harbor Cleanup Project, and the $14.6 billion Central Artery/Tunnel Project. Key challenges facing public officials who craft the project management organization revolve around issues of accountability and performance. The research focuses on the interior of the project organizations, as well as the institutional pressures that come to bear as the project advances from planning, through design, and into construction. Each of the three models developed here (“mirrored,” “merged,” and “multiple/separate”) brings with it implications for effectiveness, efficiency, organizational capacity, responsiveness, and public trust and confidence. This research tracks through the history of each of the three cases, similarities and differences among the cases, and the apparent tradeoffs that officials made when they chose one structure over another. The hope is that the conclusions discussed herein will be useful to public officials overseeing construction projects large and small. The final chapter issues a challenge to “pracademics” public and private to join in the exploration.