The Big Dig

[Cotuit]

The Sumner Tunnel will be reduced to one lane for six months. (Globe Graphic / Globe File Photo)

More woes for commute from north

By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff | August 26, 2004

In a change that will slow the morning drive for thousands of North Shore commuters, the Sumner Tunnel from East Boston to the North End will drop from two lanes to one for six months, beginning Saturday morning, so that Big Dig construction on the city end of the tunnel can be completed.

The lane closure is necessary principally to clear room for workers to remove several concrete slabs that form retaining walls around the tunnel's exit in Boston, Big Dig officials said. The change is also expected to bog down traffic on Route 1A south and to slow vehicles that are leaving Logan Airport and heading into the tunnel.

Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chairman Matthew J. Amorello announced the closing during a press conference yesterday, triggering anger among commuters who were caught unaware and thought they were finished with Big Dig construction delays. Many commuters interviewed yesterday angrily recalled the backups that occurred last year when a planned two-week lane closing in the Sumner Tunnel was extended to six weeks.

''It's terrible," said Dr. Nathaniel M. Alpert, who lives in Swampscott and works at Massachusetts General Hospital. He said he plans to leave for work 10 to 15 minutes before his usual 6 a.m. departure to avoid the potential traffic jam at the East Boston tolls leading to the tunnel entrance.

The main options for drivers who want to avoid the Sumner during the lane closing are taking the Ted Williams Tunnel to Interstate 93 north or taking Route 1 south to the Tobin Bridge.

Amorello conceded yesterday that the lane closing would cause delays. ''We expect that travel through the Sumner Tunnel will be a little slower than folks have become accustomed to," he said.

But he pointed out that ever since the connection between the Ted Williams Tunnel and I-93 south opened earlier this year, peak volume in the Sumner has been nearly halved, dropping from 3,000 vehicles per hour to about 1,700 vehicles per hour.

In December 2002, before the Ted Williams Tunnel opened to all traffic, 38,000 vehicles used the Sumner tunnel each day, according to Big Dig figures. This past May, when officials recounted, an average of 21,000 a day used the tunnel.

Sumner Tunnel changes''It will take a little longer time to travel through the Sumner Tunnel, but bear with us," Amorello said, asking that motorists pay careful attention to new signs and directions.

He added that the best alternate route around the Sumner -- taking the Ted Williams Tunnel to I-93 north and exiting at Government Center -- would add three to four minutes to the ride, without traffic.

''It's a lot closer than it may appear on a map," he said.

The lane in the tunnel is scheduled to close at 10 a.m. Saturday. The closing will allow workers to remove the retaining walls as well as the buried footing for the old elevated Central Artery, and do some preparation work for the park that will sit above the Big Dig tunnels.

At the same time as the lane closing, several other changes that are part of Big Dig construction will take effect, officials said, but they are not expected to significantly affect the flow of traffic. A new, permanent offramp will open from the Sumner to Government Center and the North End, allowing traffic in the tunnel to exit into the intersection of New Chardon and North Washington streets.

At the end of the new exit, drivers can either take New Chardon toward Government Center or North Washington Street to Commercial Street and into the North End. When that new exit opens, the direct access from the Sumner to Cross Street in the North End will end.

In March 2003, the Sumner Tunnel was reduced from two lanes to a single lane in preparation for the opening of the I-93 northbound tunnel. Even after that opening, though, the Sumner remained at one lane for weeks, as Big Dig officials adjusted signs at the tunnel's exit.

One of the commuters interviewed yesterday conceded that traffic volume has dropped in the Sumner in the past several months, but said he thinks the elimination of a lane will still cause major headaches.

''I don't buy the comments that it's not going to go back up," said Jack Eagan, 42, who lives in Swampscott and works at the Raddisson Hotel downtown. ''For six months? It's just a matter of time."

Commuters interviewed said much of their frustration stemmed from the Big Dig project itself. A recent Boston Globe poll found that while 39 percent of 400 Boston residents surveyed said the project made it easier to get around, almost the same percentage said it wasn't worth the $14.6 billion cost.

In interviews yesterday by phone and e-mail, many commuters who use the Sumner Tunnel said they had thought the worst traffic snarls were over, only to be confronted by another change that will add time to their daily travels.

Big Dig spokesman Doug Hanchett said there are a number of changes ahead in the next year, including the completion of the underground connector from Storrow Drive to the Tobin Bridge and I-93 north, which will allow commuters to avoid the Leverett Connector. That work is expected to be completed in January 2005.

''Some of [the changes] will be a short-term inconvenience for people; others will be a clear improvement for folks on a permanent basis," he said.

From The Boston Globe

[Cotuit]

Boston drivers are split on the Big Dig, poll says

By Anthony Flint, Globe Staff | August 23, 2004

Thirty-nine percent of the people surveyed in a Boston Globe poll said the Big Dig has made it easier to get around the city, but about the same percentage said the massive project wasn't worth the $14.6 billion price tag.

Asked whether the elaborate system of tunnels, bridges, and multilevel interchanges has made it easier to get around Boston today compared with a year ago, 18 percent said it was harder, and 26 percent said traffic was about the same.

But 40 percent of those surveyed said the cost of the project, which has climbed steadily from about $2.4 billion around the time of its inception in the early 1980s, was not worth it. About 33 percent said the project was worth the cost, and 14 percent said it was too soon to tell.

The telephone poll of 400 Boston residents, conducted for the Globe by KRC Communications Research on Aug. 15, 16, and 17, has a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

"I honestly don't think there's been much of an improvement in the key hours in the morning and afternoon. It seems to be the same amount of lanes," said Laura Lynsky, 38, of South Boston, a customer service representative for Federal Express and a respondent in the poll.

Lynsky, who uses Interstate 93 daily to get to Medford and back, bails out of the highway's southbound tunnel and cuts across the Fort Point Channel to get to South Boston because the backups are so frequent.

That situation can be partly attributed to the fact that the project is not complete. The backups in the southbound tunnel result from traffic being squeezed into two lanes while the Dewey Square tunnel portion is being renovated. When the project is finished, possibly next May, there will be five lanes, from the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge to the spot where drivers emerge from underground, south of Chinatown.

The major components of the Big Dig -- the connection from the Massachusetts Turnpike to the Ted Williams Tunnel, the I-93 northbound tunnel, and the I-93 southbound tunnel -- all opened last year, but construction crews are still working on two major portions -- the Dewey Square tunnel section and Leverett Circle.

But even when the project is completed, it won't have been worth the money and trouble, said respondent Ken Rielly, a mechanic from Dorchester.

"I don't think it has made things any better. It doesn't matter which time of day or night; it's jammed, inbound or outbound. It seems to me it's always messed up," he said. "It's not worth the money, the time, the effort. I think the whole thing is a political scam, but I'm a lifelong Massachusetts resident and a pessimist. I know how things work around here."

Still, others have been impressed, citing dramatic drops in travel time, the promise of reduced air pollution, and the open space left by the demolition of the elevated Central Artery.

"I'm a consumer of the Big Dig, and a happy one," said Bruce Berman of Brighton, an environmentalist at the organization Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. "I'm at Costco buying crab claws and came from South Boston to Everett in easily half the time. I commute from Brighton to Fort Point Channel and it takes half the time."

The sharply different perceptions of the Big Dig are the result of a number of factors, Big Dig officials say. The Dewey Square construction is a headache for motorists now, they acknowledge, but when completed, the main part of the Big Dig should flow well in both directions, easily handling more than 200,000 vehicles a day.

Still, some congestion at rush hour is inevitable both north and south of the tunnel, project officials say, because of increasing volumes on roadways that have not been improved.

From The Boston Globe

[Ron Newman]

> When that new exit opens, the direct access from the Sumner to Cross Street in the North End will end.

and that will make it a lot more pleasant to walk from downtown into the North End.

[Cotuit]

Big Dig found riddled with leaks

Engineers say fixes could take decade

By Sean P. Murphy and Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff | November 10, 2004

Engineers hired to investigate the cause of September's massive Big Dig tunnel leak have discovered that the project is riddled with hundreds of leaks that are pouring millions of gallons of water into the $14.6 billion tunnel system.

While none of the leaks is as large as the fissure that snarled traffic for miles on Interstate 93 northbound in September, the breaches appear to permeate the subterranean road system, calling into question the quality of construction and managerial oversight provided by Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff on the massive highway project.

Finding and fixing all the leaks will take years, perhaps more than a decade, said Jack K. Lemley, an internationally known consultant hired by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to investigate the problem. Just repairing the section of wall where the September leak occurred will take up to two months and require closing of traffic lanes.

The engineers also said they have discovered documents showing that Bechtel managers were aware that the wall breached this fall was deficient from the moment it was built in the late 1990s, yet did not order it replaced and did not inform state officials of the situation.

As a result, retired judge Edward M. Ginsburg, who leads the state's independent legal team seeking to recover compensation for shoddy construction and negligent management of the project, is now in discussions with Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly's office as they consider a lawsuit targeting Bechtel and the contractor that built the wall section that leaked in September, Modern Continental.

Lemley said that the tunnels remain structurally sound and that the project's extensive drainage system, while pumping far more water than anticipated, is keeping water away from the road surface.

But Ginsburg said he was astonished by the breadth of the problem.

''I can honestly say we were shocked; I was dismayed and shocked," he said. ''I can assure you, we're going to make sure there is a thorough investigation."

Ginsburg's team has concluded that 26 million gallons of water have coursed through the project's drainage system since December, far more than the 500,000 gallons engineers expected the system to handle annually. However, the team said they are unsure exactly how much of the water came from the leaks and how much is from other sources, such as rain dripping through unfinished areas of the project.

Turnpike Authority Chairman Matthew J. Amorello, whose agency oversees the project, was not informed of the extent of the problem until after the September leak, said Turnpike General Counsel Michael Powers. But for more than two years, three private contracting firms hired to complete cosmetic finishes on the tunnels have instead been devoting significant time to searching for leaks and patching them.

Ginsburg said such leaks are the type of flaws that Bechtel managers or Turnpike Authority officials are supposed to refer to him for investigation. He said his team will demand that Bechtel and the construction contractors permanently fix the problem at their own expense, which he said would entail replacing sections of the thick concrete tunnel walls. ''That's not patching the walls, but having them rebuilt," he said.

Ginsburg could not estimate how much the complete repairs would cost.

Modern Continental Construction Co., the largest contractor on the project and the company that built the section of wall that leaked in September, issued a brief statement yesterday expressing confidence that ''the results of the investigation will conclude that Modern's workmanship was in accordance with contract plans and specifications." Modern Continental, which has undergone years of financial troubles, recently merged with another Big Dig contractor, Jay Cashman Inc.

Bechtel/Parsons officials also declined to be interviewed, and they issued a statement that read: ''While the cause of the September water leak in the northbound tunnel remains under investigation, it would be inappropriate for us to comment on specific allegations. While water does enter the tunnels in other locations, this should not be confused with that one incident. In a tunnel of this construction type seepage is inevitable, but is mitigated by proper engineering and maintenance programs, which have been planned for and are in place. The tunnel is structurally sound."

Lemley and the other engineers hired by the Turnpike Authority to conduct the investigation said the leaks were primarily the result of pockets of extraneous material, such as sand, gravel or clay lodged in the tunnel's concrete walls. The contractors failed to completely excavate the debris before they poured the concrete for the walls, creating weaknesses through which water can seep.

George J. Tamaro, who is widely viewed as the world's foremost expert on tunnel wall construction and is also on the team of engineers, said he was amazed that Bechtel signed off on the wall section that leaked in September. He said that particular section fell woefully short of basic professional and contractual standards.

''I don't think anybody should have accepted the conditions that are there now," Tamaro said.

Poring over thousands of pages of project records, Lemley and his team have found at least a half dozen more tunnel wall panels, which are about 6 feet wide and 3 feet thick, that may develop leaks as large as the one that erupted in September, Lemley said. Those sections are located near the September leak, in the northbound tunnel. But the team cautioned that they have surveyed only a small portion of the 3 miles of tunnel walls in the system.

Lemley also said records show that Bechtel has compiled a list of hundreds of other leaks elsewhere in the system. Most of the leaks are in the I-93 tunnel, though some have been documented in the Ted Williams Tunnel.

''We think there are several other panels that need to be opened up," Lemley said. ''You have to look at this over a long period of time. You're not going to identify all this in months. . . . You're talking years here, even a decade."

Powers, the Turnpike Authority's general counsel, said yesterday that hints of the extent of the leaks emerged last January when drainage pipes near the southern entrance to the I-93 north tunnel filled with ice, which covered portions of the roadway and resulted in two days of lane closures. Traffic backed up as far south as Milton.

Project officials said at the time that the water was seeping in from open, unfinished sections of the project. But the engineers said yesterday that a substantial amount of water was also coming from groundwater leaking through weak spots in the walls.

Lemley said yesterday that Bechtel and the Turnpike have yet to fix the September leak section and have yet to approve a design for the repair.

''We're two months into it, and we still have a deficient panel down there," said Lemley. ''I would have expected a much more aggressive effort to get this leak fixed."

According to a Nov. 3 report by Tamaro, the Sept. 15 leak occurred at a juncture in the tunnel where Modern Continental was building a section of wall to meet with an already completed stretch of tunnel built by Perini-Kiewit-Cashman. The leak broke through the wall roughly 80 feet below the street surface, one of the deepest points in the artery system.

In his report, Tamaro concluded that when the wall was being built in 1999, Modern Continental failed to remove debris that had accumulated in the excavation area. Tamaro found that a Bechtel field engineer overseeing construction noted in his field report that the wall did not conform to standards, but did not take any action.

Two years later, Bechtel engineers again noted the flaw, recording in project records in December 2001 the presence of ''a concrete blow out" in the wall and the fact that ''water is leaking at this blow out." But, Tamaro said, again nothing was done.

In addition, according to documents gathered by Ginsburg's team, Bechtel engineers had been discussing problems with wall leaks as early as June 24, 1998, when a top design manager issued a memo that highlighted ''a concern for slurry wall leakage."

''Our project specification requires that slurry walls be watertight," wrote engineer Anthony R. Lancellotti of Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff. The project design anticipated minor dampness in the walls, but Lancellotti wrote: ''Running water and dripping through the walls is unacceptable and must be repaired by the contractor. . . . Slurry wall repairs need to be performed and leaks closed prior to installation of waterproofing to avoid damaging the material."

While the team of engineers readies its report for a possible lawsuit, Bechtel is conducting its own inquiry, which it will present to the Turnpike Authority. Shortly after the Sept. 15 leak, Bechtel officials said they expected to complete their investigation within weeks.

Reilly said yesterday that his office is ''involved in the effort to determine the cause of the leaks," which he called unacceptable.

In addition, the Federal Highway Administration, which provided most of the funding for the Big Dig, is awaiting the results of the investigation to determine if the federal government should take action against any of the firms involved.

From The Boston Globe

[M. Brown]

Firm defends tunnel integrity, says fix to take months, not years

By Associated Press, 11/22/2004 20:24

BOSTON (AP) The company overseeing the construction of the beleaguered Big Dig said Monday that repairs to fix widespread leaks would take months, not years, and denounced public officials for rushing to judgment on the $14.6 billion project.

''The Big Dig is safe and sound,'' Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the Big Dig's project manager, said in a statement issued in response to reports of mismanagement and shoddy engineering in the nation's most expensive highway project.

The point-by-point rebuttal states that it will takes months to stem the flow, and not decades as has been reported. Bechtel/Parsons said most of the water flow will end when construction is complete later next year and the tunnel openings are sealed.

Already, according to Bechtel/Parsons, the flow has been reduced to the equivalent of six garden hoses, which the company said meets industry standards for water flow in tunnels.

The statement was issued after two weeks of escalating news reports about the extent of the leaks in the Interstate 93 tunnel under the city, as well as the fact that Big Dig officials knew about the problem seven years ago but did not make it public or solve it.

Republican Gov. Mitt Romney has called for the resignation of Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello, who is in charge of the Big Dig. Both Romney and Attorney General Thomas Reilly, a Democrat, have held press conferences to denounce the project's management after the leaks were revealed.

The Bechtel/Parsons statement said ''a number of public figures have also rushed to judgment. As a result, unjustified fears have been raised about the safety of the tunnels.''

Reilly responded with a written statement saying someone needs to fix the leaks.

''What we need is for the responsible parties to step up, design a solution for both the panels and the roof, and fix the problems at no cost to taxpayers,'' he said.

The Turnpike Authority would not comment, and calls to Romney were not returned.

The controversy broke in September when a wall deep underground sprang a leak, sending water pouring into the tunnel and creating a 10-mile, hours-long rush-hour traffic jam.

Closer investigation of additional panels in the tunnel have turned up four other wall panels with defects that could cause holes. One of those panels has the same kind of defect, although on a smaller scale, as the one that sprang a leak.

Project officials have conceded they are struggling to plug 400 or 500 smaller leaks in the tunnel. Memos and reports show that Turnpike officials and Bechtel/Parsons were aware of the leak problem for years. One report by the state auditor and inspector general found Big Dig officials were warned as long ago as 1997 about the potential for widespread leakage.

Bechtel/Parsons officials said that the September leak had nothing to do with the other leaks, which are common when a tunnel is built below the water table.

I dont know. This kinda makes me question the quality of the project

[Cotuit]

I-93 tunnels said to need constant care

Structures safe despite leaks, panel is told

By Sean P. Murphy and Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff | December 1, 2004

The Big Dig's tunnels are structurally sound, despite hundreds of leaks, but keeping them safe will require constant inspection and an ongoing leak-patching program, two consulting engineers told a legislative panel yesterday.

If the state fails to adequately fund leak repairs, corrosion of the steel beams in the tunnels could become a safety problem, the engineers said.

It's too early to say who is to blame for hundreds of leaks in tunnel roofs, said Jack Lemley, one of the engineers hired by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to investigate the leaks and oversee tunnel repairs after a large breach spewed water onto the Interstate 93 tunnel's roadway on Sept. 15, resulting in a 10-mile traffic jam.

But two ranking members of the Legislature's Joint Committee on Transportation declared that taxpayers should not be stuck with maintenance costs caused by a flaw in tunnel design, though the state is ultimately responsible for the Big Dig's maintenance.

''This is a major problem going forward," said Senator Steven A. Baddour, the committee's co-chairman. ''It means the turnpike will have to create an additional line item for leak repairs and monitoring."

Baddour, a Methuen Democrat, questioned whether leaks are due to a faulty design by Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the private-sector manager of the $14.6 billion project.

If so, he said, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff should be required to put money in an escrow account from which the state can draw to plug leaks long after the firms have finished the project and left Boston.

''We have to make sure the design flaw is fully investigated, so we don't pay the cost," said Representative Frank M. Hynes, a Marshfield Democrat and vice chairman of the committee.

Andrew Paven, a spokesman for Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, declined to comment on the testimony of Lemley and fellow engineer George J. Tamaro, saying representatives of the management joint venture will get their say when the hearing continues tomorrow.

''We look forward to testifying," Paven said.

Doug Hanchett -- a spokesman for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which oversees the Big Dig -- said he could not immediately determine how much money is in the current Big Dig budget for maintenance.

Matthew J. Amorello, Turnpike Authority chairman, is also scheduled to testify tomorrow.

Yesterday's Beacon Hill hearing, the first since the extent of the leaks became public, focused on questions about the tunnels' safety and delved into questions of responsibility.

On Nov. 10, the Globe, based on interviews with Lemley and Tamaro, reported that the tunnels had hundreds of leaks that would take up to 10 years to repair.

In their testimony yesterday, Lemley and Tamaro took pains to distinguish between two types of leaks: those in the tunnel walls and those in the roof.

They told legislators that the Sept. 15 leak was the result of faulty construction of the wall in 1999. They are investigating whether ''six or seven" other 4- to 5-foot-long sections of the wall are susceptible to similar leaks.

As the Globe reported Nov. 10, Lemley and Tamaro said that construction reports from 1999 show that a Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff engineer was aware of the construction flaw, but let work go forward without fixing it.

''If I had been the engineer, I would have stopped the work and made the contractor do it over," Tamaro said.

If the construction flaw had been fixed in 1999, it would have taken a couple of days, Tamaro said. The fix now being planned is expected to take up to two months and will cost as much as $500,000, he said.

Lemley and Tamaro said they know far less about the estimated 500-plus roof leaks, which are occurring at the joint between the tunnel roof and the walls.

For several years, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff has directed contractors to plug the leaks by injecting grout into the surrounding concrete walls, but Tamaro said yesterday that some leaks have subsequently reopened.

Michael P. Lewis, the Turnpike Authority's Big Dig project director, said there were about 1,000 roof and wall leaks by January.

A primary cause of the roof leak problem is apparently a failure in waterproofing membranes that contractors applied to the roof and walls, Tamaro said.

Tamaro added that it appears that Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff has attempted to address shortcomings in the waterproofing, especially at the roof-wall joint, but to no avail in several tunnel locations.

Last winter, ice formed on the road surface in the northbound and southbound tunnels. It was later determined that it was caused by the roof leaks.

Asked about the possibility of leaks freezing inside the tunnels this winter, causing hazardous driving conditions, Lemley said the Turnpike Authority is ''alert to problems repeating this winter."

''I would be amazed if you didn't have" ice buildup, he said.

Some lawmakers asked Tamaro and Lemley if Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and the construction contractors were up to the task of repairing the leaks, given their past performance on the project.

Lemley advised against replacing Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and cautioned lawmakers that it is too late to bring in an independent engineering firm to oversee the managers on behalf of taxpayers, because the project is supposed to be completed next year after almost two decades.

Lemley said the Sept. 15 leak and the intensive press coverage of leaks last month have been a wake up call for the Turnpike Authority and Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff to aggressively pursue solutions to leaks. As a result, the companies are on top of the situation, he said.

''The fact is, they have a long history here and a long understanding of this project," Lemley said.

''There is not an organization in the world that can come in and grasp the problems to the extent" Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff can, he said.

Asked if Modern Continental Construction Co., which built the wall section that leaked in September, could be trusted to repair the damage, Tamaro said, ''It's my sense that it's essential to keep the contractor's feet to the fire."

But Senator Dianne Wilkerson, a Boston Democrat, said she was hardly reassured about the trustworthiness of Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff or Modern Continental to do the job.

''I don't believe anymore that it is cheaper," Wilkerson said.

From The Boston Globe

[knuckle50]

My Uncle works for Modern Continental. He installs the drainage pipes in the big dig. He said that the problem was caused by the management company, Bechtel/Brinkerhoff. Basically, the Modern guys showed up on site with cement trucks to pour the cement for the slurry walls. They poured it in each ditch, and moved on to the next one. They got to some ditches with water and sand and junk in them, because of groundwater. All of the piping and everything on the cement trucks already had cement on them. By the time they got rid of the junk in the ditch, the cement would have dried on the trucks and they would've been screwed. So, they asked one of the managers from Bechtel what to do, and they said to just pour it in. So they did what they were told, what else could they have done? And now it is leaking, thanks to the negligence of Bechtel/Brinkerhoff.

Just wanted to give you guys an alternate perspective...

-Ken

[Cotuit]

Welcome ken. I think it's a pretty widely held belief at this time that Bechtel is an out of control mega company that needs to be seriously investigated. Unfortunately I think they are pretty tight with the current administration in Washington so we'll probably see them continue to carry on as ever.

[knuckle50]

Are they really connected to the Bush admin.? I've never heard about that. Wouldn't be surprised, of course, huge juggernaut corporations have always been buddies with the Bush family.

Thanks for the welcome, this looks like an awesome site. I've always been very interested in public works and transit projects, and I'm probably going to become a politician when I get older (I'm 15). Looks like a cool site for this info.

[Cotuit]

Are they really connected to the Bush admin.? I've never heard about that. Wouldn't be surprised, of course, huge juggernaut corporations have always been buddies with the Bush family.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't think they're Hallibuton like in their ties to the Bush Administration, but I'm sure they have pull, they're a massive corporation, they're almost like their own country.

Thanks for the welcome, this looks like an awesome site.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Glad you like it, look around and make yourself at home.

[knuckle50]

Lawmakers grill Big Dig managers on problems with leaks

By Steve Leblanc, Associated Press, 12/2/2004 18:41

BOSTON (AP) The project manager overseeing the $14.6 billion Big Dig accepted responsibility Thursday and promised to pay its ''fair share'' of the repair costs for a leak in the Interstate 93 tunnel that sent water gushing onto the roadway this fall.

The eight-inch breach backed up traffic for 10 miles, weakened public confidence in the mammoth highway project, and triggered a new wave of scrutiny that revealed hundreds of other, smaller leaks near the tunnel's ceiling.

''Our investigation to date indicates that that we missed two opportunities to correct the specific wall problem ahead of time,'' John MacDonald, Chairman of Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, told a legislative panel on the second day of Statehouse hearings into the leaks.

''We seriously regret not doing enough to prevent this incident. There is no satisfactory explanation for this. We acknowledge our responsibility and will pay our fair share of the cost of permanently fixing this portion of the wall,'' he said.

MacDonald acknowledged that Bechtel's field engineer ''noted the construction defect in 1999 but apparently approved it and did not follow up with recommendations for corrective action.''

The contractor hired for that portion of the project also noticed a leak in the wall in 2001, but ''did not take proper steps'' to fix the problem that led to the breach.

''We should have caught the problem with the construction of this panel during the initial inspection,'' MacDonald told the Transportation Committee. ''Later we should have been more vigilant in making the contractor carry out necessary tests and repairs properly.''

The cost of fixing that one wall has been estimated at anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000.

State Sen. Steven A. Baddour, co-chairman of the committee, pressed Bechtel officials to establish an escrow account to cover any future problems on the project related to construction mistakes.

Baddour, D-Methuen, said an escrow account would be a sign of good faith by Bechtel in the project, which has seen its price tag soar from an original cost estimate of $2.6 billion.

MacDonald said he would be willing to discuss the possibility of establishing such an account, but didn't promise anything.

Bechtel officials also stood by their projections that they could seal about 500 remaining smaller leaks near the roof of the tunnel before the end of construction next September.

An independent tunnel expert hired by the Turnpike suggested the work could take as long as a decade.

''It's hard to believe it would take longer than a few months to seal the leaks when it took 10 years to build the tunnel,'' said Bechtel official C. Matthew Wiley.

Some committee members used the hearing to vent their frustration at Bechtel's handling of the project.

''Bechtel has outgunned us, outsmarted us off, and ripped us off,'' said Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford. ''It is a black hole.''

Earlier, lawmakers grilled Massachusetts Turnpike Chairman Matthew Amorello about the leaks. He blamed Bechtel for the September breach.

''The frustration of the public is completely understandable,'' he said. ''Oversight on that instance by Bechtel fell far short.''

So far, investigators reviewing the construction of walls along one section of the I-93 tunnel have found defects in seven of 30 panels. Most of the problems are relatively minor, although one of the panels has a problem similar to the section of wall that sprung a leak in September.

Big Dig project director Mike Lewis said there was no guarantee that future problems won't crop up as the project nears completion.

Amorello was critical of the project's management structure, which has Bechtel and the Turnpike working more as a team rather than the Turnpike having a direct management role over the project manager. That system was put in place before Amorello's arrival.

Critics say there should be an independent group looking over Bechtel's shoulder to monitor the work.

Amorello said a cost recovery team put in place by the Turnpike has already recovered more than $4 million from contractors who worked on the project. Another 11 lawsuits are pending.

Lawmakers said that's not nearly enough.

''If Bechtel were to open up a checkbook and write a $100 million check, the public would say, '$100 million on a $14.6 billion (project)?'' said Rep. Joseph Wagner, D-Chicopee, house chairman of the committee. ''The public wouldn't see $1 billion as enough.''

Amorello said the project has maintained the $14.6 billion price tag for three years and he's hoping to maintain that cost in part by ensuring that those contractors responsible for leaks pay to fix them.

But it's also important not to become so confrontational that work grinds to a halt, he said. ''We need to finish the project,'' he said.

From The Boston Globe

[Cotuit]

State to file $100m suit over Big Dig

Firm accused of failures in management

By Raphael Lewis and Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff | December 8, 2004

A team of state lawyers is preparing to file a $100 million lawsuit against the Big Dig's private-sector managers asserting there has been projectwide mismanagement unrelated to the leak problem that put the firm on the hot seat in recent weeks, according to a letter obtained by the Globe.

The suit would be the second filed by the state against Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff for problems related to the $14.6 billion project. The first, filed last March, accused the contractor of concealing the Big Dig's ballooning pricetag from lawmakers in the late 1990s.

This new legal action would seek compensation for the state for design and construction mistakes on the public works project, taking aim at Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff's central role as the overall supervisor of the work.

The lawsuit would culminate two years of investigation by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority's cost-recovery legal team, which has been criticized for failing to aggressively pursue Bechtel and other contractors.

The letter was sent yesterday by retired Judge Edward M. Ginsburg, who leads the cost-recovery legal team, to US Department of Transportation Inspector General Kenneth M. Mead, whose office last week criticized Ginsburg's work as anemic.

Saying his team is reviewing all Big Dig construction contracts for evidence of Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff mismanagement, Ginsburg wrote, ''The team has identified a series of projectwide issues arising from B/PB's overall management and oversight," but does not specify what those issues are.

The letter adds that the cost-recovery team is preparing a suit ''against B/PB arising from its failures in management oversight and other errors and omissions. We conservatively estimate that the damages in this lawsuit against B/PB will exceed $100 million."

The letter states that the mounting costs of patching leaks and repairing water damage, at least $16 million to date, are not part of the suit, raising the prospect of more litigation to follow.

Ginsburg declined to comment yesterday, speaking through his deputy, William Horne.

Andrew Paven, a spokesman for Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, would not comment in detail.

''We can't comment on a suit that has not yet been drafted, much less filed," Paven said. ''We believe the first lawsuit against Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff is without merit, and we are defending it vigorously. We see no basis for another lawsuit."

While the letter does not specify what mistakes were allegedly made by Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, Ginsburg's team, in its most recent quarterly report, said it was focusing on ''schedule initiatives and delay costs," a phrase that refers to cost overruns resulting from time lost due to poor design and construction decisions.

In 2003, the Globe published an investigative series that attributed roughly $1 billion in Big Dig overruns to errors by Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, an assertion that the firm vehemently contested. In testimony submitted to the Legislature's Joint Transportation Committee last week, a top official in Mead's office, Debra Ritt, said that the state may be able to recoup roughly $744 million in cost overruns from Bechtel and other contractors.

In his letter yesterday, Ginsburg said it is important to distinguish between total cost overruns and the amount of money that Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff or other firms may actually be responsible for paying back.

''The value of a change order is not an accurate measure of the damages that may have been incurred by [the state] as a result of the engineer's negligence," Ginsburg wrote.

His team has been criticized for recouping only $3.5 million so far for the state from Big Dig contractors. In his letter to Mead, Ginsburg said it would be unfair to judge his performance based on that record, because of the other suits against contractors that are planned or underway.

State Representative Joseph F. Wagner, the Chicopee Democrat who is House chairman of the Transportation Committee, said he was aware of the proposed litigation because he received a copy of the Ginsburg letter. However, he said it would be inappropriate to comment, because ''I am concerned that the issue of cost settlement negotiations would be played out in the media."

''I don't think it's to the advantage of the Commonwealth's taxpayers for that to happen," Wagner said.

''There's a process in place to play that out, and my hope is that the taxpayers will realize some monies here," he said.

Later this week, Turnpike Authority chairman Matthew J. Amorello is scheduled to meet in Washington with Mead, whose office has called for a new, more independent commission to take over Big Dig cost-recovery efforts. Doug Hanchett, a spokesman for the Turnpike Authority, declined to comment yesterday on Ginsburg's activities.

A spokesman for Mead declined to comment on what the two will discuss.

Mead ''is looking forward to a productive meeting," said spokesman David Barnes. ''He has been following all the recent news accounts on the Big Dig very closely."

From The Boston Globe

[Cotuit]

Romney pushes on Big Dig refunds

Seeks to shift control from Mass. Turnpike

By Sean P. Murphy and Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff | December 16, 2004

Governor Mitt Romney will file legislation today to create an independent commission that would take control away from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority for pursuing refunds for botched work on the Big Dig, a ranking member of the Romney administration with knowledge of the bill said.

Burgeoning problems with the Big Dig this fall, including revelations of hundreds of leaks in the project's tunnels, have increased pressure among politicians to create an independent commission to recoup money from contractors responsible for the faulty work.

A team headed by former judge Edward M. Ginsburg currently heads up the state's effort to get refunds, but that group reports to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which oversees the Big Dig, and critics complain that the team has moved too slowly and ineffectively.

Romney's bill would replace Ginsburg's team with a five-person commission with the power to subpoena witnesses and documents. The commission, to be created by the Legislature, would be funded by the Turnpike Authority and would seek refunds for contractors' errors. The commission would be required to file a report with the governor and Legislature within six months of its creation.

The governor is scheduled to hold a news conference this morning to discuss the plan. He presented details yesterday to top officials in the US Department of Transportation, which has funded about $8.5 billion of the $14.6 billion cost of the massive highway and tunnel project.

Federal officials have said they expect to receive a percentage of any money the state gets back from contractors.

If created, Romney's commission would be bipartisan and include the state attorney general and state auditor -- both Democrats -- and the state comptroller, or their designees, plus two appointees of the Republican governor.

The commission would be empowered to hire special counsel, engineers, and other staff to pore through documents in search of evidence that money should be refunded to the state for mistakes made by contractors and the project's private-sector managers, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Investigations of the Big Dig are currently being conducted by Ginsburg's team, the attorney general's office, and the US Department of Transportation's inspector general. Also, a congressional committee plans to hold oversight hearings into the leaks in January.

It was unclear what impact Romney's proposed commission would have on those efforts.

No lawsuits can be filed on behalf of the state without the approval of the attorney general.

The bill's prospects with the Legislature are unclear. Senator Steven A. Baddour, cochairman of the Joint Transportation Committee, which deals with the Big Dig, said he approves in theory removing cost-recovery powers from Amorello's hand-picked team. However, the Methuen Democrat said he is skeptical about the governor's proposal because the political interests of the officials represented on the commission could bring about disunity and delays in seeking refunds, which ultimately would serve Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and the contractors.

''Obviously, I am going to be open to any proposal that means we will be aggressively pursuing cost recovery," said Baddour, who previously had said he preferred giving the attorney general's office those responsibilities. ''My fear is that Bechtel will play people off one another. We need everybody to get behind the new process so a year from now we're not revamping the system again. We have to send a unified message."

Romney's record with the Legislature is mixed. Several ambitious and controversial ideas were either ignored or changed significantly by the Democrat-controlled Legislature, including a plan to merge the state Highway Department with the Turnpike Authority.

Following disclosure last month of the leaks, Romney called for Amorello's resignation, but for most of his two years in office he has said little about the Big Dig.

Doug Hanchett, a spokesman for Amorello, declined to comment last night.

Andrew Paven, a spokesman for Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, said he would not comment on the proposed legislation because the firm had not seen it. In the past, the company has said it welcomed scrutiny of its performance on the project.

The plan is likely to set off a scramble on Beacon Hill, where several legislators have already proposed plans for cost recovery.

Currently, the Turnpike Authority's efforts to get refunds are being led by Ginsburg and two other lawyers. They have been assisted by two outside law firms and a corps of engineers.

Since Ginsburg's appointment in January 2003, his team has recovered $3.5 million and has filed 11 lawsuits, including one seeking $150 million that accuses Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff of failing to disclose the true cost of the project in the late 1990s.

Ginsburg has said he plans to file another lawsuit seeking more than $100 million in damages against the contractor for unspecified management errors. The lawsuit was being prepared before the leaks were revealed.

Reached at home last night, Ginsburg said he would remain focused on his task, even though the new commission would make his job obsolete. ''We came in to do a job and we'll continue to do it so long as we can," he said. ''We are up against tough adversaries. You don't just snap your fingers and have it happen. It doesn't work that way."

The Romney bill is modeled after a plan put forward this month by Kenneth M. Mead, the US Department of Transportation inspector general. Romney met with Mead in Washington yesterday. Also attending that meeting were US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Mary Peters, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, which has direct oversight of the Big Dig.

Eric Ferhnstrom, a spokesman for Romney, said the meeting in Washington was arranged by Romney. ''Governor Romney wanted to hear directly whatever concerns Inspector General Mead has on cost recovery, and the fact that Secretary Mineta and Administrator Peters also attended underscores the importance the federal government attaches to cost recovery," he said.

At the meeting, Mead endorsed the draft bill presented by Romney, said an administration official with knowledge of the meeting.

David Barnes, a spokesman for Mead, declined to comment, beyond saying that ''the discussion focused on establishing mechanisms to find an appropriate and lasting solution, one that will identify all costs involved, and obtain appropriate cost recoveries."

From The Boston Globe

[Cotuit]

Massachusetts Turnpike chairman Matthew J. Amorello and Big Dig officials yesterday unveiled an underground bypass connecting Storrow Drive eastbound with northbound I-93 and the Tobin Bridge. The tunnel, to open Sunday, will allow drivers to avoid Leverett Circle. (Globe Photo / Zara Tzanev)

For Big Dig, a measure of relief

Improvements stem flow of ire

By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff | December 17, 2004

With bad news leaking all around them, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chairman Matthew J. Amorello and Big Dig officials yesterday announced two improvements brought by the project, both opening Sunday.

The changes are the most significant for the $14.6 billion project since the opening of the new southbound tunnel in December 2003 and the dismantling of the old Central Artery downtown. They are expected to ease the commute, but also could sow at least temporary confusion.

One is a new tunnel connecting Storrow Drive eastbound with northbound Interstate 93 and the Tobin Bridge -- a way for drivers to avoid the chaos of Leverett Circle, one of Boston's most confusing chokepoints.

"It's going to offer a huge relief," Amorello said.

The other improvement is a new third lane in I-93's southbound tunnel, which is also expected to provide some relief during the morning commute, though Big Dig officials said the now-common backups where the three lanes split are likely to continue.

The southbound tunnel will eventually be five lanes wide, an opening expected in March.

During a news conference yesterday dominated by questions about his political battle with Governor Mitt Romney over recent tunnel leaks and how to recoup public money, Amorello sought to accentuate the positive.

"With all this other stuff, please don't forget that this is good news with the openings coming up," Amorello said, pointing to the new tunnel's entrance. "And we've got the other issues, but openings and making a difference in commutes helps out the people that are paying for this project."

Still, both changes will be tricky for Boston motorists, who are usually not happy about shake-ups, especially when it comes to their commutes.

For instance, the current left-hand Exit 22 (Chinatown/South Station) in the I-93 southbound tunnel will close Sunday, replaced by a single underground lane through the Dewey Square Tunnel, and will no longer offer access to surface streets or the Massachusetts Turnpike.

While it was around, that exit offered a short-lived shortcut back to I-93 south during morning commutes.

And just as motorists were getting used to staying in the left lane of I-93 southbound to head to South Station via Exit 22, Sunday's shift will now force those headed to Chinatown or South Station to get in the southbound tunnel's right lane, where they must take Exit 23 (Purchase Street).

Big Dig officials plan to install a series of new signs before the switch reminding motorists of the new move.

On the new underground bypass on Storrow eastbound, traffic engineers will introduce the change slowly next week "to allow the learning curve to improve," Amorello said.

Motorists not paying attention to the change could find themselves headed toward New Hampshire while intending to head into East Cambridge on Route 28.

Drivers will get to the new tunnel by using a left-lane exit off Storrow Drive eastbound. It is expected to divert 60 percent of Storrow's evening traffic.

Amorello said 25,000 vehicles on the average weekday pass through Leverett Circle on their way to I-93 northbound and the Tobin Bridge. About 1,300 of those vehicles are expected to use the new Storrow tunnel each hour during the morning commute and another 1,500 vehicles per hour in the evening.

As a result, traffic flowing to Storrow Drive from Charles Circle, the Museum of Science and the FleetCenter is also expected to benefit from the opening, which starts at noon Sunday.

Changes ahead

Sunday morning, Big Dig officials will open a new direct connection from Storrow Drive eastbound to I-93 north and the Tobin Bridge. The new two-lane tunnel will allow drivers to bypass Leverett Circle, and is predicted to improve traffic flow in one of the city's worst chokepoints.

From The Boston Globe

[Cotuit]

Storrow, Dewey portals boost commute morale

By Jack Meyers | Monday, December 20, 2004

Massachusetts Turnpike Authority officials probably wish everything they do could go as smoothly as yesterday's opening of two tunnel sections aimed at helping traffic move more quickly.

At about 11 a.m., a new 600-foot two-lane tunnel connecting Storrow Drive and Route 93 North was officially opened to drivers after five years of construction.

The new connector will allow drivers on Storrow Drive who are headed north - 15,000 on the average weekday - to bypass Leverett Circle and its maddening traffic jams, a workday tradition for motorists for decades.

"It means people don't have to wait through the light cycles to go on 93 northbound," said Turnpike spokesman Doug Hanchett. About 60 percent of the vehicles going through Leverett Circle are headed north and can now take advantage of the new tunnel, he said.

The opening yesterday "got a great reception. People were honking and waving," Hanchett said.

A couple hours earlier, Turnpike Chairman Matthew Amorello presided over the reopening of the left-hand lane of the Dewey Square tunnel's southbound side as part of the main highway.

For months, the southbound tunnel's left-hand lane had been used as an exit ramp, diverting traffic to surface streets near South Station and Chinatown. Now it will serve as a lane of the main highway taking cars south of Boston.

The turnpike could make the change now because the Exit 23 ramp to Purchase Street was completed a couple months earlier than expected. The renovation of the Dewey Square tunnel is expected to be finished in March, when it will have five lanes of traffic.

From The Boston Herald

[Cotuit]

Dig changes should ease Chinatown traffic snarls

By Laura Crimaldi | Monday, January 10, 2005

Evening commuters will get their first taste of the state's cure to Chinatown gridlock along Interstate 93 today as a new ramp makes its Monday afternoon rush-hour traffic debut.

Massachusetts Turnpike officials yesterday morning opened a new ramp at the intersection of Essex Street and Surface Road to give drivers from the Financial District, Chinatown and South Station direct access to I-93 south without having to dart across Kneeland Street.

"I'll be a lot happier," said restaurateur Sol Sidell of Brookline, whose South Street Diner is smack in the middle of the Kneeland Street crunch to access I-93 south. "To get around the block from Atlantic Avenue to Surface artery to Kneeland Street usually will take you 20 minutes during rush hour. Hopefully, we'll be there now in three to five minutes."

The new ramp is accompanied by a fourth southbound lane from the Dewey Square tunnel to the Southeast Expressway, which also opened over the weekend.

Drivers headed to the highway must stay left after crossing Summer Street to access the new ramp. To get to Interstate 90 West, drivers continue down Surface Road and cross Kneeland Street.

Pike officials closed the temporary onramp that had provided access to I-93 South for the past two years Friday night - throwing another curve ball to Boston drivers already confused by the onslaught of Big Dig changes.

"There's no fair warning," said Peter Kane, a driver for L.Z. Limousine in Norwood who was tripped up on the job by the temporary onramp closing Friday night. "You have to be a genius or a magician (to keep up with the changes)."

From The Boston Herald

[urban addict 20324]

I like this project, there's a billion benefits in this, most of them ease up the commuter hell caused Boston's congested, hectic and narrow roadways. However, I do question the quality of the tunnel areas of this project, with many leaks. I hope that problem gets remedied soon.

[Cotuit]

Central Artery Tunnels to be named for Sen. Tip O'Neill.

[BostonFaker]

Thank God.

[youbetternot]

Thank God.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What? You didn't want Liberty Tunnel? But it would have been such a unique and interesting and underused name... and it would have honored the troops. Think of the troops! Why do you hate the troops and want the terrorists to win!? What would the heroes of 9/11 think?

[TheBostonian]

What? You didn't want Liberty Tunnel? But it would have been such a unique and interesting and underused name... and it would have honored the troops. Think of the troops! Why do you hate the troops and want the terrorists to win!? What would the heroes of 9/11 think?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hehe. You could run for office.

What is really growing on me is the name "Leonard P Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge." Or just the "Zakim" bridge.

[BostonFaker]

I hate how they sing God Bless America every ball game now.

[youbetternot]

I hate how they sing God Bless America every ball game now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Agreed.

[Frankie811]

http://www.boston.com/news/traffic/bigdig/...ilway_projects/

[Cotuit]

Salvucci: Big Dig only half done. State must keep transit commitments