BOSTON – Problems with the anchors securing concrete slabs to the roof of a Big Dig tunnel where a motorist was crushed to death this week were identified in 1999 when five bolts failed during testing, the state attorney general said Wednesday.
Attorney General Tom Reilly, who is investigating whether manslaughter charges should be filed against anyone responsible for the 12 tons of falling ceiling panels, said the project overseer, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, and the contractor, Modern Continental, knew about the problem. He refused to provide details of the field report that described the problem.
“We have information and documentation that a problem with the anchor bolts in this area was identified in the fall of 1999,” Reilly said. “It was not only identified but there was a plan to address that problem and what we’re trying to determine right now is was that plan implemented.”
Meanwhile, the first post-accident inspections of the massive highway project revealed that in more than 60 places, bolts attaching 3-ton ceiling panels were loose in the same connector tunnel where Milena Del Valle, 38, of Boston was killed Monday while she and her husband drove through it on their way to the airport.
Matthew Amorello, chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, and Michael Lewis, director of the Big Dig, said initial visual inspections revealed that in some places, bolts had started to come out of concrete tunnel ceilings. In other locations, they said, gaps had developed between the ceilings and metal plates that are part of the bracing that has been used to hold the massive panels aloft since 1999.
“I’m not an engineer, but you can visually see that some of these locations have been compromised,” Reilly said.
“It was a clean break,” he said of one of the failure points. “Now whether it’s the epoxy, whether it’s the plates, whether it’s the bolts, whether it’s the design, I can’t tell you right now.”
Amorello and Lewis also revealed that an undetermined number of similar problems areas have been found in two adjacent tunnels carrying car pool lanes and westbound traffic. That raised the specter of a broad design or construction flaw in that portion of the airport connector, rather than an isolated material failure.
“There is some compromise,” Amorello told reporters at a news conference.
The widespread trouble spots in what has been billed as an engineering marvel prompted Turnpike Authority officials to order an inspection of the city’s entire highway system – every bridge, tunnel and roadway – even those that are decades old and not part of the massive road and tunnel system. It has been the nation’s most expensive highway project, with a price tag of $14.6 billion.
Nonetheless, Amorello again brushed aside growing calls for him to step aside that have come from a fellow Republican, Gov. Mitt Romney, as well as legislators and top Democratic politicians who have traditionally stood by his side.
Amorello also insisted the tunnels remain safe.
“The tunnel system is safe,” he said. “What happened Monday was a tragedy. I’m taking every step to ensure it never happens again.”
Del Valle was killed and her husband, Angel Del Valle, 46, was injured as they drove through the tunnel on their way to Logan International Airport to pick up relatives.
Officials said the tunnel where the four panels fell and the two adjoining tunnels have a unique design, and no other Big Dig tunnel showed similar movement of the bolts around its ceiling panels.
John Christian, a geotechnical engineer hired to conduct an investigation on behalf of the Turnpike Authority, said the attachment bolt design was fairly standard. He said holes were drilled in the tunnel’s concrete ceiling and then bolts were inserted along with a pressure-injected epoxy packing.
“It’s conceivable that we may find … there is some generic flaw in the systems that are used for designing these panels,” Christian said.
Amorello said plans to reopen the tunnel on Wednesday had fallen behind because of the criminal investigations launched by Reilly and U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan. In each case, they have requested that panels, attachment rods and other materials be catalogued and held as evidence in a possible involuntary manslaughter case that may be lodged against designers, construction firms and Big Dig workers.
Sullivan told The Associated Press on Wednesday that federal investigators are probing whether companies who worked in the area of a fatal tunnel collapse actually delivered the goods and services promised in their contracts.
Sullivan said an already ongoing investigation by his office into the massive project has been redirected to focus on the tunnel section where the panels fell.
In May, Sullivan’s office brought the first criminal charges in the trouble-plagued Big Dig project against six men who worked for the project’s largest concrete supplier, accusing them of falsifying records to hide the inferior quality of concrete.
“We obviously want to identify any public safety risks … but also to ensure that what the government paid for – through tax dollars – is in fact what was delivered,” Sullivan told the AP.
Reilly, meanwhile, met with officials from Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff before returning to the accident site on Wednesday.
A spokesman for Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff declined to comment Wednesday on the attorney general’s allegation. Contractor Modern Continental did not immediately respond to a phone call and e-mail. Both companies have expressed their condolences and willingness to cooperate with the investigation.
The attorney general told reporters he had suspended negotiations with Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff to recover some costs from the project “until we complete this.”
The strength and quality of the concrete used in the tunnel is also key to the safe hanging of the overhead panels, according Avi Mor, of Dr. Mor & Associates, a California-based consulting firm specializing in construction defect analysis.
He said if concrete failure was to blame for the collapse of the panel, investigators would likely find pieces of concrete still epoxied to the tie rods.
“Concrete is a live material. It goes though cycles of expansion and shrinkage. The tunnel can vibrate,” he said. “All these things could cause cracks if the concrete is marginal to start with. This micro-cracking can bring it to the point where it could fail.”
For commuters who waited years for the Big Dig to bury an antiquated Central Artery and send traffic underneath the city, there’s been trepidation as they use its newfangled tunnels and bridges to get in and out of Boston.
Steve Past, 45, a cab driver for the past 14 years, said he drives to Logan International Airport about four or five times a day.
“The drivers aren’t so scared, but people sitting in the back seat are scared. Because who knows, today one piece falls down, tomorrow another piece,” he said.
Scott Brook, 41, is an information technology consultant who drives into Boston and takes the Zakim Bridge that carries motorists into one of the main tunnels. While his commute on Wednesday wasn’t noticeably longer than usual, he found himself looking up at the ceiling.
“I used to say that the Big Dig was the best thing to happen because it made my commute shorter,” he said, “but I can’t say it’s such a great thing now, knowing that someone died.”
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Associated Press Writers Steve LeBlanc, Denise Lavoie and Ling Liu contributed to this report.
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