Posted on 07/22/2006 1:07:57 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Big Dig workers were so stumped by ceiling construction in the Ted Williams Tunnel they used duct tape to temporarily secure bolts now coming loose in hundreds of areas on the $14.6 billion project, state inspection records show.
The records reveal massive confusion and disagreement over repeated failures of epoxy-bolt fasteners installed in the mid-1990s. Inspections noted that holes were drilled too deep, bolts were too short and epoxy was at times not mixed properly.
In some cases, records show, workers scrambled to find a temporary way of keeping bolts from dropping out of the ceiling.
“Bolts have falled (sic) out before epoxy sets,” one inspector for the management firm Bechtel/ Parsons Brinckerhoff wrote in November 1994. “Crew is now using duct tape to hold bolt to ceiling.”
The problems with construction - documented in a 1998 report by the state inspector general’s office - have caused alarm because contractors used similar epoxy fixtures to support much heavier panels in the Interstate 90 Seaport connecter tunnel. The I-90 tunnel collapse last week killed Milena Del Valle, 38.
“The question I ask is . . . how in the world could you have known that this question arose associated with this epoxy fastening system and not have inspected it on a regular and frequent basis?” Gov. Mitt Romney asked yesterday.
Romney reopened the Ted Williams Tunnel eastbound yesterday to MBTA buses, with state police escorts to ensure they don’t hit temporary scaffolding. The governor had ordered the tunnel’s closure Thursday because inspectors found two bolts pulling loose from the same ceiling panel, one by nearly an inch.
Romney said he is not convinced the tunnel is safe - inspectors noted 25 trouble spots - but he agreed to open it as long as inspectors keep a close watch over problem areas.
The ceiling panels in the Ted Williams Tunnel were installed under the direction of Walsh Construction Co., records show. Company officials did not respond to repeated attempts to get comment yesterday.
Big Dig tunnel work was being directed in the mid- to late 1990s by then-Turnpike Authority Chairman James J. Kerasiotes, who was fired in 2000 amid revelations of staggering cost overruns. He could not be reached yesterday.
A spokeswoman for current Turnpike Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello said, “The federal guidelines for new tunnels recommend inspections up to every five years. The MTA adopted a timeline of triannually (inspecting) as per our bond covenant.”
The records on ceiling construction in the Ted Williams Tunnel detail sharp disagreements between Walsh Construction and Bechtel/ Parsons Brinckerhoff, the firm responsible for project oversight. Walsh argued epoxy bolts were failing strength tests because of “voids which exist within the concrete of the ceiling.”
But officials with Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff rejected those concerns, saying problems resulted from poor installation. In several reports, B/PB officials accused installers of drilling bolt holes too deep and failing to clean out the holes - problems that can prevent epoxy from bonding properly. [continue]
There are a few exceptions to the foregoing. Precious few.
I'm not an engineer or anything but using epoxy to anchor bolts into concrete doesn't sound like a fabulous idea when it's supposed to hold that much weight. I think I would prefer some metal-to-concrete friction like an expanding type anchor or something rather than fancy glue or at least in addition to the epoxy.
Nice to know where tax dollars are going.
Epoxy is likely stronger than the concrete - if installed properly...
It does require some competency though...
This is a reminder that blue collar work is more skilled than many people think.
People understand that this seems like a straight forward, simple process, yet it went horribly bad.
It seems to me the process was never truly understood by anyone involved, that was assertive enough to point out that the emperor had no clothes.
Regardless of the engineers, architects, and inspectors, the expertise that should have caught these flaws were the craftsmen that have a working knowledge of the real world elements involved.
The bolts...they just falled out.
Stop work on the tunnel. Close it. It is not safe. Moth ball it for a year and see how if self destructs.
They must've done it wrong, incompetent boobs; duct tape would hold.
There was a sketch around here last week. The bolts expand as they're torqued down. The combination of epoxy and expansion would create an extremely strong fit.
Nothing wrong with duct tape. Yankees probably just don't know how to apply it correctly.
All together now kids......"look for the union label".....
You forgot the Mafia-controlled labor unions.
"Romney said he is not convinced the tunnel is safe - inspectors noted 25 trouble spots - but he agreed to open it as long as inspectors keep a close watch over problem areas."
Wow, nothing like Leadership! What's he gonna say if it turns out he is right and someone else is killed?
I don't get WHY thse panels are in there in the first place--they are cosmetic, right? Do, say the Lincoln and Holland tunnels have multi ton cosmetic features installed?
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