So far this afternoon, MassDOT reports there was a multi-car crash at the entrance to the O'Neill Tunnel northbound that shut the left lane and an "overheight" tractor trailer that jammed up the entrance to the Callahan Tunnel. Both scenes now clear.
Today is, of course, the anniversary of the Great Molasses Flood, when a poorly maintained tank of molasses on the North End waterfront exploded at 12:40 p.m. on an unseasonably warm January day, sending a viscous brown tsunami down Commercial Street, killing 21 people and several horses, destroying buildings and bending the elevated. Read more.
Wave hitting Winthrop Parkway in Revere. Photo by Brian Riccio.
Morrissey Boulevard? Long Wharf? Winthrop Drive? All shut at the morning high tide as wind-whipped waves came ashore. But also Day Boulevard in South Boston. Read more.
Adam Castiglioni watched Santa (and the Italian consul in Boston) ride down Hanover Street today.
Boston Restaurant Talk reports China House on Hanover Street has shut down.
Boston Restaurant Talk reports Ristorante Fiore on Hanover Street is closing - but it looks like the DePasquale family is looking to open a new Umbria in the space.
Jessica Dello Russo watched today as state troopers opened up the special Backup of Shame ramp from the Callahan Tunnel entrance to the Greenway today and then guided another big-rig driver slowly backwards up to the street after he realized his truck wasn't going to fit without a haircut.
A concerned citizen filed a 311 complaint about the graffiti guy he spotted adding to the freshly re-painted wall across from Cutillo Park in the North End around 10:15 a.m. today. He then marked up another wall down the street.
A concerned citizen takes time out of a no doubt very busy schedule to file a 311 complaint about the sign in Christopher Columbus Park that still lists Martin J. Walsh as mayor and to ask that the sign be changed to reflect the name of the current mayor.
A North End resident who says her view would be blocked by a wall just a few feet from her windows today sued to block the construction of a five-story, 134-room hotel along Cross Street on the Greenway edge of the neighborhood. Read more.
Live Boston reports things got a bit out of hand shortly before 3 a.m. at Salem and Prince streets. While one police officer applied a tourniquet to the man's wrist, others were busy arresting a suspect. Read more.
CSO warning from BPHC.
The Boston Public Health Commission reports all the rain has overloaded local sewer mains, to the point that one MWRA outflow pipe, upstream of the North Washington Street Bridge, started pouring sewage-laden water into the inner harbor at 1:01 a.m, "creating a potential public health risk." Read more.
From MassDOT handout
MassDOT officials said tonight workers are busy fixing defective welds on the new North Washington Street Bridge and that they should be done by the end of December, letting non-repair construction resume in January - with a goal of switching three vehicle lanes and sidewalks over from the current temporary bridge in December, 2023. Read more.
MassDOT has announced two public online meetings to discuss the bridge, and we're going to be optimistic and assume they're not going to go to all the trouble just to announce that the project is still dead in the water. Read more.
A federal judge yesterday told the owners of four North End restaurants she's inclined to dismiss their suit over a $7,500 city fee to use public sidewalks and streets for outdoor patios this summer, but that as soon as she files a written document stating that, she'll give them two weeks to tell her why the city isn't correct that they have no legal basis for the suit. Read more.
A Revere man was ordered held without bail Friday after his arrest on domestic-violence charges for an incident on Hanover Street in the North End the night before, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Read more.
A Charlestown court officer who lives on Salem Street in the North End grew so angry at noise from a man helping a friend move a couch that he punched the man in the face, then pushed him down the stairs, breaking multiple bones in his legs that required surgery to set, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office charges. Read more.
If you want to pen your condolences, you should head over to Old North Church - yes, the place with the lanterns and all - starting Monday. The British consulate announced:
The British Consulate in Boston is opening a condolence book for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Old North Church in Boston (193 Salem Street). It will open on Monday 12 September and stay open through Wednesday 14 September from 10am to 4pm.
A concerned citizen filed a 311 complaint this afternoon about the newly sudsy fountain in the North End Prado:
Someone put soap in PRADO fountain
Earlier:
Who dropped a whole truckload of Fizzies into the Copley Square fountain?
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