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Workers hit gas main on Brookline Avenue; buildings evacuated, road shut

Scene outside Beth Israel

Scene outside Beth Israel. Photo by DJDJDJDJ.

UPDATE: Leak stopped, roads being re-opened.

Boston firefighters are on Brookline Avenue near Beth Israel, where construction workers hit an 8-inch gas main.

Firefighters are evacuating nearby buildings, including on the Emmanuel College campus. Some Beth Israel personnel were evacuated as well, however, some patients and staff were allowed to stay inside, because portable meters showed no gas readings inside their buildings.

Police have shut the busy street on either side from Longwood Avenue to Park Drive.

Neighborhoods: 


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Comments

Has Mass DOT coordinated with local construction - public and private - to keep all the secondary roads free of construction during the Commpocalypse?

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I really hope someone can tell us WHO pays for these main breaks, too. Ignoring the police/fire responses costs...a main break means thousands (maybe even tens of thousands of dollars) in loss. Do the construction crews pay it? Are they fined to offset it? It seems like hitting water & gas lines happens a lot in this city and maybe it would happen less if they paid for it, along with a big fine?

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So if a Feeney brothers crew (they work with gas) hits a water line, Feeney bros pays Boston water to fix it (and all the OT costs that come with it.

Now Feeney Bros get ps about 25k just to shore up a hole, so the cost doesn't matter so much, they are more worried about getting permits for future jobs, that is how the city can deter reckless/negligent construction work for the most part.

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Like all the thousands of people who have to halt being in their home or business and all the lost business dollars?
Yes there are some [very limited] means to apply for compensation for some [very limited] businesses, but its a difficult and lengthy process. And most individuals or businesses wouldn't be eligible for compensation despite suffering significant losses of time and money.

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Or you can sue the negligent party for losing you money if in fact this was negligent.

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the people who issue permits for roadwork won't give out permits for non emergency work. Although some areas it's better to let companies come in in while the road is closed and do their work.

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Planning home improvements? Planting a tree? Installing a fence or deck? Whether you do it yourself or hire a professional, a safe job starts with a call to Dig Safe® at 811.

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They wouldn't have been allowed to start without calling Dig Safe.

And for your home improvements? Dig Safe only stays on public property. They won't help you find anything on private property. You'll have to hire someone else to do that.

And furthermore, they're working with documents that are compiled from previous projects. Whether or not they're correct is another story. I can personally vouch for a water main search that started with Dig Safe but turned into a two day affair with BWSC.

Contractors - provide correct and accurate as-builts for future projects to help prevent this kind of accident.

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Dig Safe surveys private property every day.
http://www.digsafe.com/how_it_works.php

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So one of my points was wrong. I stand corrected.

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Scary very busy area. Gas is dangerous. Scab workers going to have to fix the main, they haven’t fixed a leak since National Grid locked members of USW 12012 and 12003

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"Scab Workers" aren't the ones which haven't been bothered to fix some known gas main leaks in Boston, including some known to be leaking since 1980s, which have caused millions of dollars of damage to street trees.

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Correct, scab workers are not responsible for the years of corporate decision making to ignore the thousands of leaks. The decision to fix a gas leak is also not the responsibility of the locked out workers. National Grid makes daily decisions that could put your family and as you noted - the trees in danger. The decion tree, if you will - is it profitable to fix the leak? Meaning are we losing more gas than the cost to fix. Are people complaining about the leak? Are local officials involved in those complaints? National Grid could fix every leak if it chose to, but that would be costly and eat into profits so they choose not to.

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They are letting traffic down Longwood heading towards Huntington, but the entrance to Longwood is blocked at Huntington.

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