I have stated before that I am glad Mitt has control of the Dig now and can't believe that he hasn't had it all along. I for one thought wrongly that he was accountable for all the tunnel inequities..Since he has been put in charge the situation has gone from bad to wiorse.
Hub drivers’ nightmares will last for “months,” Gov. Mitt Romney said yesterday, announcing tests of epoxy-anchored bolts in the Interstate 90 network have revealed a “systemic failure” of the ceiling suspension system that will require millions of dollars in time-consuming repairs. And that it was necessary to close the tunnel that traffic was being rerouted through. Further lengthening and complicating driving an and around Boston.
As the tally of defects continues to mount, Romney said problems in the three-year-old tunnel system are far worse than first imagined, with ceiling supports pulling away in hundreds of locations and engineers contemplating a complete replacement of all 696 epoxy-bolted fixtures.
State and federal investigators have conducted 18 “pull tests” on epoxy-fastened bolts in locations throughout the I-90 Seaport connector tunnel, and found that the epoxy-bolt failures are spread throughout all tunnel lanes east and west, Romney said yesterday.
“It’s pretty clear to us that what happened last (Monday) was not just an anomaly, but was a systemic failure in the fastening system,” Romney said. “For the entire system to be repaired and safe is probably going to take at least a couple of months, and perhaps longer.”
In the first days after the fatal collapse, embattled Big Dig boss Matthew Amorello repeatedly described the ceiling support problems as an “anomaly” that was not expected to keep the tunnel closed more than a couple of days. Now it appears the closures could continue through the summer and fall tourist seasons.
Romney, who seized control over tunnel inspections from Amorello last week, also said officials have decided to indefinitely close a crucial ramp connecting the Ted Williams Tunnel to Interstate 93 because the number of suspect bolts in the tunnel has doubled from 20 to 40.
The increasingly dark reports on the status of the tunnel system have left inspectors reeling as they diagnose myriad failures that caused 12 tons of concrete to collapse and kill 38-year-old Jamaica Plain resident Milena Del Valle, who was eulogized in an emotional service Saturday.
The extent of the problems have raised questions not only about whether construction protocols were followed, but also whether the design of the system was fundamentally flawed, permitting far too much pressure to be put on epoxy fasteners to support three-ton ceiling slabs.
Early inspections have revealed that the system used in the I-90 Seaport connector tunnel left the epoxy bolts supporting concrete panels that weigh six times as much as those being supported by a similar system in the Ted Williams Tunnel.
Attorney General Tom Reilly, whose office is conducting a criminal probe into the collapse, said through a spokesman last night that Romney’s concerns about a “systemic failure” correspond with what his investigators are finding in the tunnel system.
Romney said he could not discuss the precise outcomes of pull testing done so far, but he said the results made clear that all 696 epoxy-bolted fixtures may have to be replaced.
http://news.bostonherald.com/...
It just blows me away that things are finally being giving the attention they should have gotten years ago. Our Senators are starting to voice outrage they have never felt even though the problems were always there. They are just covering their political asses!
James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com
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