I-93

Martin Richard's words.

Liz Carney led a Dot Art Paint for Peace Day at Savin Hill Beach today that ended with the hanging of this banner across I-93. Photo by Peter McNamara.

State Police report that when a trooper rolled up to a car stopped in the high-speed lane near exit 13 around 4:50 this morning, he found an apparently unconscious man behind the wheel. Who then woke up and took off:

Nicole Oliverio at WHDH tweets the driver of one of the station's news vans had just gotten on I-93 south when she realized somebody was on the roof. Seems somebody with places to go but no way to get there had climbed on somewhere between the station's Government Center offices and the I-93 ramp.

The guy surprisingly wasn't hurt. Said he needed a ride, but didn't have $$

MassDOT reports it's opening the remaining fourth-lane sections of 128, er, 93/95/1/Hut!, between Randolph and Westwood this week. Schedule of segment openings. Important note:

With the opening of the new fourth travel lane, the authorized use of the breakdown lane for travel during weekday peak commuting periods will be discontinued to enhance driver safety and provide emergency vehicle access.

In other words, from now on, the breakdown lane is only for breaking down in.

The Herald reports on some car-to-car shooting around 1 a.m. on the Randolph/Braintree section of I-93.

I-93 north of the Zakim, at least, according to the new iPhone Maps app.

A man who drove his pickup the wrong way on the northbound side of I-93 just before the O'Neill Tunnel died earlier this morning when he crashed into an SUV coming the right way and he was thrown from his vehicle, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Idefonso Barros, 58, of Roxbury, was taken to Tufts Medical Center, where he died, the DA's office reports.

The DA's office says State Police have determined the man, in a 1999 Dodge Dakota, somehow got onto the northbound side of the highway the wrong way. He struck a 2006 Nissan Pathfinder, whose driver had to be extricated by firefighters. She is expected to survive.

The northbound side of the road was shut while firefighters extricated the second victim and police tried to determine the cause.

A woman fell to her death around 2:30 p.m. from the lower deck of I-93 in Charlestown to the Boston Sand and Gravel property below. The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports her car was found on the deck: "The woman's death does not appear suspicious and it is currently being investigated as a non-homicide."

UPDATE: State officials are blaming an "oversize truck" for taking out one of those lane-marker things, BostInno reports - so yes, it's always September in the O'Neill Tunnel.

Somewhere in the back of the mind is a vague memory of state officials promising to do something about all the Big Dig light fixtures held up by library paste or paper clips or something. Jason Porter managed to take a picture in the northbound tunnel this morning that suggests they missed at least one.

Peter Denham was stuck in traffic on I-93 south in Dorchester Thursday afternoon, which gave him the time to see a giant fiery teapot in the sky as the sun set.

A tractor trailer carrying a full load of clay rolled over around 5:30 a.m. on the lower Deck just before the Zakim Bridge, spilling its load, fuel and oil and shutting the road, State Police report. The driver was taken to Mass. General with minor injuries.

Construction of I-93 in Somerville in 1972.

Crash at Everett and Clevemont in Brighton. Photo by bbarbaruolo.

Update, 11 p.m.: Expressway in Dorchester at a complete standstill in both directions; six cars collided on the Zakim.

Drivers unaccustomed to powder-covered roads, coupled with a lack of salt, means spinouts and crashes are beginning to pile up. A Hummer ran up into a house on Lake Street in Brighton, but did no major damage to either house or people. Police shut Everett Street in Brighton after cars started playing pinball. Boston DPW salt trucks began blasting out of their yards to treat roads around 10:45 p.m.

Ed. note: I held off on raising the French Toast Alert based on a forecast that called for everything to melt by morning as temperatures rose into the 40s. I should have known better.

They could rename it Pigsty Park.

The Globe today reports the state Department of Transportation has some ambitious plans for the land and air around the turnpike/93 interchange in Chinatown, which it hopes will eventually become a new gateway to the city, featuring new development and parks.

Parks, huh? The photo above is the latest on file with the city's Citizen Connect service from Mary Soo Hoo Park, the little plaza at the pedestrian gateway to Chinatown that is owned by the state Department of Transportation - or at least, that's what the city and the Greenway Conservancy keep telling residents in explaining why their crews can't pick up the trash that keeps getting left there. A couple of weeks ago, the city actually did dispatch a DPW crew to remove trash, but this latest complaint is marked "closed:"

Case Referred to External Agency. Mass dot jurisdiction. details forwarded.

But not because it was held up with rusty paper clips but because a car on the top level of a car carrier knocked into a bunch of light fixtures, the Globe reports. And isn't it nice to see that Big Dig designers paid homage to Storrow Drive by designing a tunnel with height restrictions?

Wicked Local Randolph reports Randolph police chased two stolen cars from a Randolph apartment complex into Boston early this morning: One chase ended with a crash off the Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester, the other ended when the thief managed to lose the cops in the O'Neill Tunnel.

The Globe reports some guy from Martha's Vineyard learned this morning you're not allowed to ride a bike on I-93, when State Police stopped him in Milton, gave him a ticket and told him to not do it again.

UPDATE: That wasn't just some guy. Boston Biker reports he was "local crazy man" Lucas Brunelle, who is known for his two-wheeled stunts.

An Everett man was speeding and sideswiped another driver before crashing into a Jersey barrier and rolling over around 5 a.m. on I-93 northbound by Freeport Street, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Edison Correa, 23, will likely face charges now that it looks like he will survive the head trauma he suffered in the crash, the DA's office says. Correa was initially non-responsive when emergency crews arrived on scene, but is now in stable condition at Boston Medical Center, the DA's office reports.

A repeat drunk driver created a swath of destruction starting in his girlfriend's apartment and ending in a car crash on I-93 in Dorchester early this morning, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office charges.

Prosecutors say Charles Rampino, 47, of Jamaica Plain, went into a drunken rage at his girlfriend's apartment on Pearl Street in Dorchester, tearing the place apart and pushing her against a wall. He ran out, spotted a Jeep with keys in the ignition and took off - after punching the Jeep's owner, a food-delivery guy - in the face.

Not long after, the DA's office says, officers on patrol along Freeport Street spotted the Jeep doing 60 in a 30-mph zone and gave chase - following him onto I-93 south:

NorthEndWaterfront.com gets briefed on what's in a consultant's report on re-routing of trucks along Atlantic and Commercial avenues. In fact, the report goes further - urging all hazmat trucks to stay out of the city altogether and stick to 95 and 128 unless they're making deliveries to local businesses.

The city had banned hazardous cargoes from the North End, but the feds overruled the city last year. Truckers want the right to detour through the city around I-93, from which they're now banned because much of the highway is in a tunnel, from which trucks carrying potentially explosive materials are banned.

William Monopoli, 26, of Buzzards Bay, was ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail following a Friday chase that started on I-93 south in Dorchester and ended only when he crashed his car 30 miles away, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Kennedy famously made sure Rupert Murdoch had to choose between keeping Channel 25 and the Herald (a couple decades after the feds stripped the Herald-Traveler of its TV license) and now the Federal Highway Administration thinks the state should make Herald owner Pat Purcell take down the billboard atop the (eventually to be former) Herald plant next to the Expressway.

The FHA also expresses ire over the giant banner on the Fenway Community Health Center building on Boylston Street in the Fenway, which is right next to, um, er, hey, what highway is it next to again?

For the second time in a week, somebody tried getting across I-93 on foot and didn't succeed.

Last week:
Pedestrian hit, killed on I-93 N in Braintree.

Around 9 a.m., Meredith Spencer tweeted:

Huge accident on 28/McGrath OBrien hwy at 93 on ramp just past old Assembly Sq Mall. Traffic completely blocked.

The aneurysm was repaired in time for the morning rush and motorists are no longer advised to bring parachutes.