The Big Dig was a collection of various civil engineering

Civil engineering

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

 projects in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 to regenerate the city.

The scheme was a ten-year plan for the city's 2008 European Capital of Culture

European Capital of Culture

The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....

 status. The city gained a new shopping centre Liverpool One. It cost around £3bn and created 14,000 jobs and included a rationalisation of the city centre traffic network.

Criticism

Implementation of the scheme was protracted and severely hampered the ability of the city to perform as a commercial centre. The cancellation of the 2007 Mathew Street Festival

Mathew Street Festival

The Liverpool Mathew Street Music Festival is a free music festival held annually in Liverpool, with Mathew Street as its central attraction.-Description:It is also the largest annual free music festival in Europe...

was directly attributed to the 'big dig'.