<i>It&#x27;s already a big heavy mass of concrete and steel, and was reinforced after the last earthquake, it&#x27;s hard to imagine reinforcing it more.</i><p>We could rebuild and reinforce it on Mars for what the SR99 tunnel debacle is eventually going to cost us, in both direct and long-term economic impact.<p>I&#x27;m only being slightly hyperbolic here.  By way of example, the Big Dig cost about 40% more than NASA&#x27;s annual budget... and as I pointed out earlier, the Big Dig was an <i>improvement</i> project.  The SR99 tunnel is not.