State Sen. Marian Walsh wants another Ward Commission to keep the Big Dig debacle from ever happening again (for you whippersnappers, the Ward Commission exposed endless corruption and greed after UMass buildings started crumbling).
Great idea, Sco writes:
Kimberly Atkins has the details of Romney's formal effort to remove Matt Amorello from office - which also includes a suit by three Romney appointees to the turnpike board against Amorello.
Spatch: Romney to Amorello: It's on, bitch:
... Too bad A. Romney's looking right into the eyes of 2008 when he bares his teeth, and B. someone had to die for the shakeup (shakedown?) to happen.
Massachusetts GOP News posts three Amorello limericks - and none involve "Nantucket."
Jason Butler lives in MetroWest, works on Congress Street. He reports:
Boy, it sucks to work on Congress Street and drive in from the west these days.
They've closed another section of the Big Dig this morning, and all the traffic on from the Mass Pike is flowing onto the surface streets all around us. I'm not looking forward to trying to find a way onto the Pike this afternoon when I have to go home. ...
Harold M. Clemons casts a Roxbury eye on the Big Dig scandal:
... They compare it to the Hoover Dam and the Panama Canal. I compare it to the New Deal because, on its account, good, decent, hardworking white boys that aren't highly educated can still make honest wages sufficient to provide for their families, while darkies of similar education and rearing fill the unemployment rolls and watch the prosperity from afar. On my word I ain't seen a nigga workin' the 'Dig' yet and it's been goin' on since I was like 10! ...
Because nobody died on Lay's watch, Christine argues, suggesting that instead of a payment to make Amorello go away, the state should exile him to some remote Boston Harbor island.
Joe Dwinell tallies up the number of problem bolts - it's grown from 60 to 242.
One Boston visitor reports his anxiety in driving through the Ted Williams Tunnel today:
This morning, Dan Kennedy predicted more bad Big Dig news before we're through.
This just in: The westbound side of the tunnel is in worse shape than the one where the ceiling fell in.
Kennedy also wonders why the ancient Sumner and Callahan tunnels and the Blue Line tunnel under the harbor, just work. What makes them different?
On Blue Mass. Group, Charlie explains why the Big Dig is the biggest issue in the 2006 elections:
Follow the money, John Daley suggests: Specifically, the money flowing from Big Dig contractors to our best and brightest on Beacon Hill, including newly outraged Tom Reilly.
Tim Lavallee listens to an audio book about Bechtel's practices in Third World countries (you remember Bechtel, as in Bechtel Parsons Brinherhoff, the joint venture that oversaw the Big Dig?) and learns some lessons:
Amy reports that even before Monday's ceiling collapse, her grandmother refused to visit her cousin who lives in Revere because it would have meant driving through the tunnels:
Tim Lavallee took a deep breath then drove home via the Big Dig last night:
left work tonight expecting the longest commute home ever. Instead, the Big Dig was empty like a Sunday morning. Traffic on the southbound side was very, very light. Even the usual slow down areas, such as the tunnel exit to the South Bay mall, was a speed limit breeze. ...
Out there on the Other Coast, SFWillie manages to find a connection between the Big Dig tragedy and Barry Bonds's home-run record: Both involve cheating.
Ben Ostrander drove through a Big Dig tunnel today:
Friday18 and her husband used to work for a materials testing company - hired to test construction material on certain very large public-works projects in the Boston, many involving the same company responsible for the part of the Big Dig tunnel with the collapsing concrete slabs. And she explains why this makes her completely unsurprised by the collapse.
The tragic story of the car being crushed last night in one of the Big Dig tunnels got me thinking...
I am not sure that I believe in a God, certainly not one that most organized religions feel the need to pray to, and worse, fear. But, I know that I believe in something, some force (no Star Wars jokes, please...)out there stronger than you and I that is playing a part in our lives, maybe keeping a balance between good and bad, right and wrong. Maybe something like Karma...
Now, I am not in any way saying that the poor woman who was killed by that giant block of falling cement had it coming or had lived her life in a way that would have some bad karma due to her. But, it does make me think that life can't be totally random. She was in the passenger seat of that car and the driver was able to walk away from this incident with nothing but scratches. Physically unscathed that is...I'm sure he is going to have some emotional trauma to deal with for a long time to come from such a horrifying ordeal.
Breaking news: Mitt Romney to try to oust Matt Amorello; says nobody can feel safe in the tunnel system right now: "I don't have any confidence in this individual."
Jennifer reports it took her three hours to get to the airport this morning and then to work.
EnuhCorK took an alternate route:
Saying the ceiling collapse happened in "the oldest" part of a ten-year-old tunnel doesn't fill us with much confidence, Mr. Amorello, so please stop saying that.
Your comments after the photo of the turnpike/Ted Williams Tunnel connector (collapsed ceiling-tile tunnel on the left) - photo via MassGIS OLIVER:
Carpundit is not surprised that the turnpike authority will be increasing tolls and wants to extend the tollbooths to I-93:
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
