Posted on 07/11/2006 12:18:46 PM PDT by raccoonradio
BOSTON Gov. Mitt Romney said he's taking legal action to remove Matt Amorello as head of the Big Dig after a woman was crushed to death by falling cement in one of its tunnels. Romney said nobody can feel comfortable driving through the tunnels.
Romney told reporters Tuesday afternoon that Amorello has "undermined public safety" through what he calls "leadership failures." He also said Amorello is “over his head” in the job and Romney wants to start a nationwide search for a replacement.
CBS4 has learned the attorney general has now launched a criminal probe into Monday night’s collapse in the I-90 connector eastbound tunnel.
38-year-old Milena M. Delvalle of Jamaica Plain was killed when three-ton concrete panels fell from the ceiling and crushed the car she was riding in.
CBS4's Jon Keller reports that Attorney General Tom Reilly has ordered investigators to seize debris from the collapse and records on the tunnel from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority offices.
Amorello, who toured the scene with Romney before the governor met with reporters, has asked State Police Major Michael Mucci to head the Turnpike's investigation into the accident.
“We will get to the bottom of what occurred here and hold any party responsible.” Amorello said at a late morning news conference.
Amorello said crews are now removing other panels in the eastbound side of tunnel that were held in place by the same kind of steel "tieback" suspected of failing in the accident. The westbound side panels will be removed Wednesday.
He said a different type of ceiling construction was used in the other Big Dig tunnels. But, as a precaution, they are inspecting the panels in the nearby Ted Williams Tunnel.
A steel tieback that held the 40-foot ceiling section in place gave way and landed on the car just after 11 p.m.
Delvalle was killed instantly. Her husband, 46 year-old Angel Delvalle, was driving the car. He escaped through a window with minor injuries. The couple was heading to the airport to pick up relatives.
Their car was partially crushed under at least four ceiling panels. It was in the left lane, giving the driver's side more protection as panels came to rest also on a left-side service walkway that is elevated several feet above the road.
Charlie Young was in the tunnel moments after the collapse. ”I literally saw the ceiling on top of the vehicle," he told CBS4 Tuesday morning. “I never saw anything like that in my whole life."
The ceiling panels were erected in 1999 and the contractor was Modern Continental. In a statement the company said, "We express our sincere condolences to the Delvalle family. Modern Continental is cooperating fully with the investigation into the cause of this tragedy. We are confident that our work fully complied with the plans and specifications provided by the Central Artery Tunnel Project. In addition, the work was inspected and approved by the Central Artery Tunnel Project."
A source close to the investigation told CBS4’s Joe Shortsleeve he thinks the bolts that held the massive panels in place were not properly fastened.
Amorello says the earliest the tunnel will re-open is Wednesday afternoon.
The accident happened about 200 feet from the end of the connector tunnel. The site is near the entrance to the Ted Williams Tunnel, which goes under Boston Harbor to Logan Airport.
Traffic headed east to Logan will be detoured through the Callahan Tunnel, and westbound traffic exiting the Ted Williams Tunnel will be detoured through South Boston.
Governor Romney cut short his vacation in New Hampshire to return to Boston Tuesday morning.
Looks like a great place for some enterprising illegal immigrants to move. They can rebuild the place at a much lower cost.
It is now clear to me how the grand scheme of traffic congestion reduction is supposed to work in Boston. Make everyone so afraid to use the roadways they don't come into the city.
That'd be funny if it wasn't true!!!
We don't need terrorists to take out these tunnels they are a disaster waiting to happen on their own
When the ketchup kook talks about creating jobs you know now what he is talking about
Sounds ominous. Stay safe.
They'll just find the one Republican in Boston and blame him.
Howie Carr replayed a clip in which he did fire FM
And the CM left because Mitt threatened to pack the board of UMass with Alan Dershowitz, Judge Dahre and Howie Carr. And then the CM had to leave.
16.8 as of this morning, but since the US government is paying, I guess that no one is really counting :-(
Thanks! I am listening to Howie Carr on WRKO.com
A billion here, a billion there . . . .
Good luck finding one there.
Precisely
FM is talking to the press right now and is denying the report from the inspector. He is saying that they are using a different tie back system here.
Howie Carr is making comments over the press conference. Especially where FM conceded that each panel is 15 tons. Yikes!
Oops. correction, 3 ton panels in a drop ceiling, not being bolted in but being held with some form of "glue"
Note that we could hear that the other tunnels are in trouble.
heavier storms moving into Beverly yet again.
prob. will turn comp. back off. I remember a few years ago I made the mistake of keeping my TV and comp. on during T-storm. A loud BOOM!!! that sounded like a shotgun was heard...I didn't
lose power, but it fried my living room TV and also the modem of my comp. (back in the dialup days. Using broadband now)
 Massachusetts Turpike Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello, second from left, speaks with state Attorney General Tom Reilly, center, outside a Big Dig tunnel in Boston Tuesday, July 11, 2006, where slabs fell from the ceiling late Monday night killing a female motorist. |
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