Undermining a city and overrunning on costs

DRILLING tunnels beneath the wooden pillars that support one of Europe’s oldest cities sounds mad. Yet this is what Amsterdam decided to do in 2002, when it chose to build a new metro line. The line starts in the north and heads south under the Ij river, the central station, Dam Square and Rokin. For six years, the area south of the station has been a huge construction site. Deadlines have stretched; the budget has doubled, from €1 billion ($1.3 billion) to €2 billion.

The metro is a sore point in local politics. In the 1970s planners tore down one of Amsterdam’s oldest quarters in the east to build a line between the central station and the suburb of Bijlmer. Local residents fought fiercely to save parts of their old city. Atop the metro today is one of the city’s worst eyesores: a four-lane highway known locally as Stalin Alley. ...