Under Boston · STOP 08 · Waterfront / Greenway
The InterContinental was built around Big Dig Vent Building 3, and its chimneys still stick out the top.
A glass hotel on the Greenway was built around a Big Dig ventilation building, and the highway's exhaust chimneys still rise out of its roof. Nobody agrees how tall they are: three sources give three heights. Under the lawn across the street is the tunnel they breathe for. Stand on the Greenway and look up.
This is stop 8 of Under Boston. Walk it - any two stops are free.
The plate
Collected on site
510 Atlantic Ave, Boston, MA 02210
Directions
In 2002 the Globe called the Big Dig's tunnel ventilation the world's largest such system: five vent buildings on this corridor alone, feeding power and fresh air to nearly four miles of underground road.
More footnotes on the story card, in the app.
Argue about it
How tall are the hotel's chimneys?
Both sides, with their sources, are on the story card in the app.
In these collections: Under Your Feet
Sources (8)
- Artery vent buildings (Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff)Boston Globe via Boston.com · 2002-05-07
- Reporter's Notebook: An inside tour of the MassDOTThe Tech (MIT), Janelle Mansfield · 2013-01-30
- Vent Building #3, Central Artery/Tunnel ProjectLeers Weinzapfel Associates · 2004 (unbuilt scheme)
- InterContinental BostonWikipedia · accessed 2026-10-10
- Central ArteryWikipedia, Central Artery (citing NBC News / Associated Press, 2003-12-20) · 2003-12-20
- The InterContinental HotelCultureNow · n.d.
- InterContinental Hotel and Residences, BostonSkyscraperPage · n.d.
- InterContinental Hotels Group to open Boston's first InterContinental (press release)Hotel Online · 2004-06