Money Well Spent?
How many years has the Boston "Big Dig" been going on? How many gazillion dollars over budget is it so far?
How many people are going to die from it?
BOSTON - Three-ton concrete panels fell from the ceiling of the city's Big Dig tunnel, killing a woman in a car and shutting down a section of the massive building project that has become both a central route through the city and a source of construction concerns and cost overruns.
The woman was a passenger in a car hit by debris from the ceiling late Monday, authorities said. A man believed to be the driver was able to squeeze out and was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, authorities said.
Authorities say safety has not been compromised by problems with the $14 billion Big Dig highway project, which buried Interstate 93 beneath downtown and extended the Massachusetts Turnpike to Logan Airport.
Massachusetts State Police said that stretch would be closed indefinitely while authorities clean up debris and inspect the area.
In a news conference early Tuesday, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello said the ceiling collapse was caused by a steel tieback giving way. The tieback held a 40-foot ceiling section in place over Interstate 90.
"There was a snapping sound heard," Amorello said. "One of the tile panels from the roof released. It caused a series of panels to be released."
Amorello said he's confident there is only one 200-foot section of the Big Dig project where the type of tieback that failed was used. Those ceiling panels were erected in 1999 and the contractor was Modern Continental, he said.
Gee, it's only 200 feet of three ton panels that might fall at any time. Boston drivers should treat it as an adventure, right Mr. Amorello?
UPDATE: Local coverage. A Blog For All also notes the problems. Universal Hub has an extensive roundup (and thank you for the link and quote)
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Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » Big Dig - Big Headache — July 13, 2006 @ 6:37 pm
By Roland Hesz, July 11, 2006 @ 7:46 am
uhm.. and there is no possibility, that when that 200 feet give way, it will weaken the structure of the surrounding area, causing it to fall down, thus weakening further the structure….
There could be a bloody big hole, and that, having a city over the tube, is not a good thing.
And I wouldn’t put say “only 200 feet”. That’s a rather long section if you compare it to a ~13 feet long car.
That tunnel should be closed down an thoroughly inspected.
You don’t want to have, say 8 cars in that section when it falls down…
By Ed, July 11, 2006 @ 12:46 pm
Well what do you expect after 16 years of management by Republican Governors. Massive incompetence and kickbacks to the likes of Republican contributors Bechtel/Parsons & Modern Continental.
And, yes, Matt Amarello is a Republican appointed by Republican Paul Celluci.
By Gaius, July 11, 2006 @ 12:51 pm
I’m willing to bet, having been around for a while now, that the governors had very little to do with the project directly. More the bureaucrats, most of them career, not appointees.
By Roland Hesz, July 12, 2006 @ 3:20 am
I think it was the usual - oh, we will just cut back a bit on spending.
Not a rare thing, happens frequently in construction works, on paper everything is first rate, and then, you just dig a bit, and you find out that it is not exactly what you paid for.
It is an absolutely politics free stuff.
By Roland Hesz, July 12, 2006 @ 3:32 am
What I can’t get, how one tieback giving way could casue the slab to fall?
How many did they use? What about safety measures, backup parts, etc.?
I studied mechanical engineering, and we were taught that you don’t use one supporting part for anything.
You can always have an inherently flawed part, and it wouldn’t be good if a snapped bolt caused the whole machinery to fall apart.
And here we talk about safety measures to prevent human injuries and death, not the breaking of a simple tool.
By Gaius, July 12, 2006 @ 4:06 am
It’s a domino effect. One support gives way and thros additional weight on the next support causing it to fail, etc. Same thing happened at a hotel in the US a while back. Walkways collapsed into a crwod when a support failed.
By Roland Hesz, July 12, 2006 @ 6:53 am
Yes, but safety ones are exectly there to prevent the domino effect.
At least they are supposed to be.
By Gaius, July 12, 2006 @ 7:21 am
If the support is designed badly, or installed badly, there is a tendency toward a domino failure. It happens, Roland.
By Roland Hesz, July 12, 2006 @ 9:06 am
Yes I know it can happen. I just can’t really see why and how.
On these kinds of projects more than one engineer design, check recheck, model, prototype. recheck the whole plan.
All of them missed this flaw? We got a lot of nice, useful stuff to help with modelling and simulating exceptional events, normal events, whatever you want.
And then, I can’t accept the “only 200 ft” thing.
If it has 200 feet of bad designed and/or implementation, then it has more, I bet.
And yes, I got angry with sloppy work. I am a maximalist with mine. I am a harsh critic of anyone’s - including my own - work, always trying to make it better — if not perfect.
And it’s not that my failures could kill people. It’s just simple work ethics.
And can’t accept that anyone would dare to skip on his.