Teddy Kokoros spotted this walking platter next to Storrow Drive near the Harvard Bridge this morning.

UPDATE: Driver charged.

A box truck driver says he blacked out around 7:15 this morning, causing a multi-vehicle collision that ended in explosions and the shutdown of the intersection of Comm. Ave. and Brighton Ave. - and, of course, Green Line service through the area.

Channel 4 has video of a car fireball. Helicopter video. Ilovesashimi posts a couple of photos. Harry Mattison posts a couple as well. Channel 5 reports.

Meanwhile, an 18-wheeler hit the BU Bridge while on Storrow Drive but managed to get off the road without causing major damage, according to our friends at Traffic on the 3s.

Shane reports on a rare event on Storrow Drive during yesterday morning's commute: TWO stuck trucks, one eastbound, just past the Doubletree, one westbound, near the Hatch Shell.

The Urban Paramedic recounts a roll-over smashup on Storrow Drive, involving a guy who stopped looking at the speedometer when it broke 100:

... "I'll get the immobilization stuff," I said to my partner. Anybody going that fast must be presumed injured until x-rays and a CT scan prove otherwise.

Soon we had him strapped to the board in the back of the ambulance. Incredibly, he didn't have a scratch on his face. "He's bleeding from someplace," one of the EMTs said. "There's blood on his pants."

The man was cooperative but extremely hyperactive. He kept trying to sit up. As I gently pulled him back down, I saw blood on his hand. Turning it over, I saw a series of parallel slice marks on his wrist. His other wrist had similar cuts.

"Did you cut your wrists on purpose?" I asked.

"Why, yes," he said, smiling the way some people do when they're drunk. ...

John Daley is liking the proposal to shut Storrow Drive on Sunday mornings:

... It's a good idea. Every Sunday will be the Fourth of July. ...

Some of us, of course, would prefer to see Storrow shut permanently.

With the Storrow Drive tunnel project on temporary hold, Mike Mennonno hopes officials (and he's looking at you, Mayor Menino) use the time to come up with more permanent solutions that don't keep putting the needs of commuters ahead of residents:

... We're emerging from a half-century in which flight from the city was the norm. You can see the scars of this disregard for city neighborhoods everywhere in them, as they were sacrificed to escape routes from them. A new vision is needed for Boston, and quick fixes to Storrow Drive every few years that disrupt the life of Back Bay and destroy--even if temporarily--a haven that has taken generations now to build should not be part of it. Period.

As long as road construction and automobile transportation remain a priority over conservation and alternative and public transportation in Boston, we'll be fighting these battles forever. And in the end, no one wins the war.

Earlier:
Shut Storrow Drive!

Because they'd smash into each other as they race to get onto Storrow from the Allston/Cambridge turnpike exit.

Paul Levy and Fred Salvucci, who know something about big infrastructure (the former gave us the Deer Island treatment plant; the latter the beginnings of the Big Dig), argue that rather than simply pouring money into the Storrow tunnel, the state and Boston should consider ways to eliminate the road entirely:

... Let's say that a new BU Bridge -- and yes, the BU Bridge will have to be replaced soon because it is in terrible shape -- were connected directly to exit and on ramps from the Mass. Turnpike and then repositioned on the Cambridge side to align with Vassar Street instead of bumping into the Reid Overpass on Memorial Drive so that Turnpike drivers could go directly to their destinations at MIT and Kendall Square. Let's say the Grand Junction railroad bridge were reconfigured as an express bus and pedestrian route from Cambridge to Boston to enhance mass transit, walking, and biking between Cambridge and BU and the Longwood Area. Let's say the Longfellow Bridge -- and yes, this bridge will be rebuilt also -- had revised approaches on the Boston side. You get the idea. ...

Earlier:
Shut Storrow Drive!

Nothing could be better first thing Monday morning: Truck stuck in Storrow Tunnel backs up traffic.

Andrew Teman notices the Smartraveler report: Stuck truck at the Storrow tunnel inbound. Zachens reports:

It was less stuck and more torn open like a can of tuna.

Mats Tolander takes a photo of what's left of the truck hanging from the entrance to the tunnel (and somebody promptly edits the photo to make it a bit more understandable).

WBZ-TV joins in the fun, noting that the driver was "young" (with the "and stupid" implied):

... It appears that instead of stopping immediately after hitting the bridge, the driver kept going about 25 feet under the bridge, causing the truck's roof to be ripped off. ...

Ooh, thank you, WBZ-TV, for also providing a slide show for those of us not stuck in the miles-long backup the young Mario Andretti caused.