Eastbound Ted Williams Tunnel Reopens For Silver Line Traffic
by Aaron Margolis, July 21st, 2006 at 07:37am
After a brief shut down ordered by Governor Mitt Romney, the eastbound lanes of the Ted Williams tunnel have reopened for Silver Line traffic.
Workers toiled throughout the night to reinforce two bolts holding up a ceiling panel in the eastbound Ted Williams Tunnel, which was closed by Gov. Mitt Romney when the problem was discovered but reopened Friday morning.
Romney shut down the tunnel Thursday after seeing pictures of the two bolts that appeared to have slipped 1/2 inch and 1 inch.
Faulty bolt-and-epoxy assemblies are being investigated as a possible cause of last week’s deadly collapse of ceiling panels in a nearby stretch of the city’s Big Dig highway system. The eastbound lanes of the Ted Williams Tunnel were closed to the general public after the collapse but buses had been using it to reach Logan International Airport.
John Carlisle, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said the tunnel reopened to Silver Line buses going to Logan Airport, and Logan Express buses at 7 a.m. Friday.
A truck was brought in to shore up the ceiling panel. Engineers were working to come up with permanent plan to reinforce the panel and allow traffic to pass.
“It is perhaps an overreaction but we want to err on the side of public safety,” Romney said at a news conference in which he said he was overruling an earlier finding by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority that the tunnel was safe.
The westbound side of the Ted Williams tunnel has remained open to general traffic, as have two older airport tunnels that were not part of the Big Dig.
Governor Romney’s leadership has been no less than outstanding during this Big Dig crisis. Thank you, Governor.
Entry Filed under: Big Dig
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