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In Boston, crews find new road troubles

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 13, 2006

BOSTON - Inspectors began reviewing the city's entire highway system Wednesday - every bridge, tunnel and roadway - after at least 60 signs of loose bolts and other potential failures were found in the same Big Dig tunnel where a motorist was crushed by falling concrete.

Initial inspections by state officials revealed that some bolts had started to come out of the concrete in the eastbound connector tunnel, part of the main route to Boston's Logan Airport. Gaps also had developed between the ceiling and metal plates that help hold the massive panels in place.

There had been plans to reopen that section of tunnel Wednesday, but Massachusetts Turnpike chairman Matthew Amorello said it would remain closed indefinitely to ensure motorists' safety and to collect more evidence in a possible criminal investigation of the tunnels' designers and builders.

Amorello said a number of similar problem areas were found in two adjacent tunnels, raising the possibility of a broader design or construction flaw.

The widespread trouble spots prompted the Turnpike Authority to order an inspection of the city's entire highway system - even parts that are decades old and not part of the $14.6-billion Big Dig system, the nation's most expensive highway project.

Late Monday, 12 tons of concrete ceiling panels in the tunnel collapsed, crushing a car and killing 38-year-old Milena Del Valle. Her husband escaped by crawling through a window.

"It was like a bomb," Angel Del Valle said. "Everything was falling. It was too fast. I couldn't stop. I couldn't do anything."

Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly said a contractor and project manager knew about problems in that section of the tunnel as early as 1999.

"It was not only identified, but there was a plan to address that problem, and what we're trying to determine right now is was that plan implemented," Reilly said, declining to provide any other details.

John Christian, an engineer hired to investigate for the Turnpike Authority, said the attachment bolts used a standard design: Holes were drilled into the tunnel's concrete ceiling and bolts were then inserted, along with pressure-injected epoxy.

He said inspectors may find "some generic flaw in the systems that are used for designing these panels."

[Last modified July 13, 2006, 06:40:11]