Ted Williams Tunnel

Holey moley: Boston firefighters pull another worker out of a shaft

adamg — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:39:09 +0000

EMTs get injured worker to ambulance. Photo by BFD.

Boston firefighters spent two hours early this morning getting a state transportation worker out of a shaft connected to the Ted Williams Tunnel.

According to the Boston Fire Department, the worker plunged 20 feet down a shaft into a pool of sludge around 1 a.m.

Using ropes and pulleys, firefighters lifted the worker out after about 2 hours in the hole. He was washed down as part of a decon.

The worker was taken to Mass. General. The department says the firefighters who rescued him were not the same ones who rescued an MBTA worker at the bottom of a shaft last week.

The shaft. Photo by BFD.

The driver was not a BU freshman

adamg — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:11:40 +0000

$15 billion and what do you get? A tunnel that's already too small for some trucks, that's what. The Globe reports the driver of a bigger than big rig smashed into an overhead sign in the Ted Williams Tunnel, then just kept going, at least, until some staties caught up with him on the Expressway in Dorchester.

End game: Increase in the gas tax

adamg — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:52:14 +0000

The Outraged Liberal considers a possible real motive behind the humongous toll increases approved by the turnpike authority yesterday: Put pressure on the legislature to increase the gas tax.

He notes the tolls don't take effect until February or March, and not until after a public hearing (where will they hold that? Gillette Stadium?).

... Presumably, that would be enough time for Deval Patrick and legislators to get off their, um, sidelines, and approve a comprehensive plan to tackle the transportation nightmare (hey, throw in the disaster known as the MBTA while you are at it.) ...

Dan Kennedy on the turnpike authority: What, are they insane?

Jay Fitzgerald predicts we'll wind up with a toll increase, a gas-tax hike and the transfer of turnpike "hacks" to a new state authority. He uses a classic cartoon to illustrate how he feels this morning.

State gets $21 million from contractor for that fatal Big Dig ceiling collapse

adamg — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:15:07 +0000

Modern Continental also has to keep paying for bonds for six years in case anything else goes wrong.

Airport travelers to get socked by tolls

adamg — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:28:38 +0000

The Globe reports on toll increases approved by the turnpike authority today for the Weston and Allston/Brighton tolls and the harbor tunnels, starting in February or March. Most notable: Tolls at the Sumner and Ted Williams tunnels will increase from $3.50 to $7 - although FastLane users will get to pay just $6.

When Silver Line buses go bad

adamg — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:30:52 +0000

The Lone Rider adds them to his list of Silver Line buses he will never get on again. Latest on his list: Bus 1131, which broke down in the Ted Williams Tunnel, causing a horrific traffic jam that meant it took him 47 minutes to get from Logan to South Station.

Alicia, meanwhile, uses her BlackBerry to report that the driver on the 7 bus is actually going too fast:

... She is speeding like crazy and then slams on the breaks if she has to pick someone up. Everyone's heads are whipping forward when she finally decides to break last minute. If there is a service slowdown going on, this chick is definitely boycotting it. Ugh, I need a barf bag. ...

'Substantial' toll hikes in the works for turnpike, tunnels

adamg — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:44:40 +0000

How's an $8.50 tunnel toll grab ya?

Bonus fun quote:

"The last thing I'd want to be associated with is another Longfellow Bridge," [Turnpike Executive Director Alan] LeBovidge said, referring to the 102-year-old span over the Charles River that had to be partially closed this summer when it fell into disrepair.

Yeah, because we all know how well built those turnpike-controlled Big Dig tunnels are.

Ten tunnel toll takers tagged

adamg — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:15:19 +0000

Ten current and former toll collectors at the Ted Williams and Callahan tunnels were charged today with stealing toll money from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which owns the tunnels.

Suffolk County DA Dan Conley says the most common scheme involved taking advantage of the different tolls charged to commercial vehicles and ordinary passenger cars:

As vehicles pass through the tolls, the collector is supposed to hit a switch indicating the type of vehicle passing through and collect the appropriate fare. In most of these instances we've charged, toll collectors would classify some of the taxi cabs or other commercial vehicles as ordinary vehicles, but charge the drivers the higher toll rate and pocket the difference.

Another scheme involved toll collectors manipulating the timing switch used to count cars so that two vehicles would be counted as one. Again, the toll was collected from the uncounted vehicle but pocketed by the toll collector. The dollars stolen from the Turnpike by misclassifying or miscounting vehicles could range anywhere from $20 to $150 per toll collector, per shift, and amount to thousands of dollars.

State Police began their investigation last October. The ten were issued summons to appear in Boston Municipal Court to answer the charges.

Good to know: Ted Williams Tunnel can't accomodate all trucks

adamg — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:32:34 +0000

Not that that stopped the guy who tied up traffic Tuesday:

... In a video released by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Thursday, the flatbed truck carrying a crane is seen heading into the Ted Williams Tunnel. It triggered the overheight sensors and the warning sign before the tunnel's entrance, but the driver didn't stop. ...

Big Dig inspector: What we can't see won't hurt you, we think

adamg — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:21:49 +0000

Seems part of the Ted Williams Tunnel was built in such a way to make it impossible to inspect bolts - you know, those things that are supposed to keep the ceiling from falling on you.

Wait a minute: This isn't supposed to happen at the Ted Williams Tunnel

adamg — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:24:30 +0000

The Globe reports:

A tall truck hit an electric sign near the entrance to the westbound Ted Williams Tunnel this morning, forcing traffic on Interstate 90 down to one lane, State Police said.

Isn't the Ted Williams Tunnel supposed to be all modern and stuff? How tall was that truck?

The Logan commute

adamg — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 11:43:13 +0000

Third Decade admits to looking anxiously upward while driving back from Logan through the Ted Williams Tunnel yesterday - after first taking the detour through Charlestown to the airport:

Luckily we didn't see or experience anything out of the ordinary. Still, I'm glad I don't have to travel back and forth between the city and East Boston by car regularly. I can't imagine adding that much more anxiety to my daily commute. ...

Duct tape really can do everything

adamg — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 16:38:49 +0000

So Big Dig workers used duct tape to hold up failing bolts in the Ted Williams Tunnel when the Superglue didn't work.

Aaron Margolis: Boston commuters have probably been joking for years that the Big Dig was put together with duct tape; sadly, a silly joke has turned into reality.

Bolts from the blue

adamg — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:31:49 +0000

Tim at Boston Crazy Driving shows how wonderful the Internets are: You can read the 1998 Inspector General's report on bad bolts in the I-90 connector in the comfort of your own home.

Chris at Left Center Left wishes some enterprising blogger would compile a Big Dig for Dummies site that would answer questions such as:

... Did Christy Mihos really get pushed out because he was a whistleblower? At the time, I thought Swift wanted to fire him because he wanted to lower the Turnpike tolls, while the powers that be wanted to raise them to help with Big Dig costs. ...

Andy at Mass. Revolution Now notes the Globe story in which Tom Reilly is caught in yet another one of those contradictions that do little to bolster one's faith in his candidacy, involving last year's settlement talks with Bechtel /Parsons:

... The one lesson Tom Reilly needs to learn from this campaign is that he is best when he IGNORES COMPLETELY his political intuition, he has none. This is also not the first time the Attorney General's puffing has been deflated. Right now Reilly has an opportunity to turn the Big Dig into political gain without being political! If Reilly just does his job, something he has usually proven to be pretty good at, the politics will take care of itself. ...

Leave it to Soxaholix, of course, to remind us what's truly at stake here:

... Memo to the Big Dig engineers: You were working on the Ted Williams Tunnel, you know, Teddy Baseball, the Splendid Splintah, hello, war hero and not the Charles Stuart Tunnel or the Albert Desalvo Tunnel. Have some civic pride fercrissakes.

Yeah, right now Larry Bird is on the phone with his lawyah, "Hey, put in my will that when I'm dead Boston can't name anything aftah me, OK?" ...

Aaron Margolis at Hub Politics salutes Mitt Romney for his inspired leadership during the crisis.

Some leadership, Sco snorts, wondering where His Mittness was when everything else in the tunnels was falling apart.

Another tunnel closing down

adamg — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 20:54:58 +0000

Closing down. Closing down.
Another tunnel closing down.
My fair gov'nor.

Take some glue and fix it up.
Fix it up. Fix it up.
Take some glue and fix it up.
My fair gov'nor.

How will we open it up?
Open it up? Open it up?
How will we open it up?
My fair gov'nor.

Pay Bechtel lots of dough.
Lots of dough. Lots of dough.
Pay Bechtel lots of dough.
My fair gov'nor.