One year ago next week, a three ton concrete panel fell from the ceiling of a Big Dig tunnel in Boston.
It killed a woman from Jamaica Plain on her way to Logan Airport.
Then Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney promised an “exhaustive†inspection of the entire Big Dig.
And the state is still fixing problems found after the ceiling collapse.
But as NHPR Correspondent Shannon Mullen reports, engineers are expecting to find more problems as they expand their review to the rest of the Metropolitan Highway System.
MULLEN: Governor Mitt Romney gave the Chicago firm Wiss Janney Elstner 90 days to tell him whether he could drive through the Big Dig “without [his] fingers crossedâ€.
The engineers said it was fundamentally sound.
ROMNEY: Overall, I feel as safe as I do in my automobile anywhere else, given the review from this panel. Does that mean that anything in this life is 100% safe? No.
MULLEN: It’s understandable why Romney hedged a little.
The engineers’ 11 volume report in November was full of words like "compromised," "deteriorating" and "unsound."
They found 35 parts of the Big Dig with problems that required immediate attention, as Romney was getting ready to leave office.
Steve Pritchard directed the review up to that point.
He says there was still a lot of work to do.
SM: Is the Big Dig Safe?
SP: it was safe when we did our analysis.
MULLEN: Pritchard recommended that incoming Governor Deval Patrick quickly assign a new, independent safety director to succeed him.
PRITCHARD: … I think that’s vital. There’s so many pieces to keep track of and manage.
MULLEN: But it was 6 months into the Patrick Administration before Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen appointed a new Safety Director -- Newton Public Works Commissioner Bob Rooney, who didn’t start until last week.
Rooney will also have some other responsibilities, including finding cost-savings for the Turnpike Authority and the Highway Department.
But Transportation Spokesman John Lamontagne says the Big Dig will be Rooney’s top priority.
LAMONTAGNE: it’s NOT the urgent phase at this point, so, if Bob has the opportunity to work on other projects, hopefully he can.
MULLEN: Steve Pritchard also recommended that Governor Patrick quickly re-appoint the independent advisory panel that oversaw the first phase of the review.
But Patrick has not done that.
Now the second phase is scheduled to start this month with a double focus – inspecting the rest of the highway system, and making sure problems have been fixed.
And there are still problems.
Crews replaced the epoxy-bolts in the tunnel where Milena del Valle died, with a new system, but the same type of bolts still hold up lighter-weight ceilings in other tunnels, and engineers say that might not be safe in the long-term.
Some of the structures that support the 3-and-a-half-year-old Zakim Bridge are already deformed or cracking, and crews have removed crumbling concrete all over the Big Dig.
Work has only just begun to address the tunnels’ fire detection system -- the engineers’ report says it doesn’t comply with current standards.
And better cell phone service is also still in the works so motorists can report fires in the tunnels.
Mike McGrath, the Mass. Highway official who’s in charge of monitoring progress on Big Dig repairs, says despite lingering problems, work done so far has made the project more secure.
MULLEN: sm: is the Big Dig safe, in your opinion?
MM: Drive through it every day?
Sm: but is it safe?
MM: I drive through it every day. I have no reason to believe it’s not.
Now engineers move on to the wider Metropolitan Highway System – that includes the Sumner, Callahan and Charlestown tunnels, the tunnel under the Prudential Center, and the rest of the Mass Pike out to route 128.
This larger system is much older than the Big Dig – the Sumner and Callahan tunnels opened in the 1930s, and 60s, respectively…
Wiss Janey Elstner engineer Gary Klein, who led the initial Big Dig review, says he’s expecting to find a worse degree of deterioration.
KLEIN: The challenge with older structures, some of them can be well designed and so on, but you get pesky issues life concrete that might be delaminating in areas where concrete may fall.
MULLEN: Klein says he’s relieved that extensive inspections are starting up again.
KLEIN: there was doubt in our mind as to what would happen to this investigation and the findings. But I can say at this point that the Commonwealth remains very committed to the Stem to Stern. Took them while to get up to speed, initially they handled it differently perhaps… but I was very pleased that they have continued that effort.
MULLEN: It was more than an effort. It was a promise.
And just days on the job, new Safety Director Bob Rooney says that promise has been kept.
ROONEY: When you realize the expertise that’s going into reviewing every inch of that project, I think you take more risk crossing the street in front of your house than you would going in the tunnel at this point.
MULLEN: is the big dig safe?
ROONEY: it is my opinion, it is safe.
Federal transportation officials have final say on that.
They monitored all the repairs, and the state needed their approval to re-open Big Dig tunnels.
Drivers started using the final one last month.
And the highway administration will be watching over the coming months, as engineers start looking for more problems.
For NHPR News, I’m S-M.
