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Workmanship and design of tunnel are called into question
Boston Globe ^ | 7/12/06 | Scott Allen and Sean P. Murphy

Posted on 07/12/2006 10:08:21 AM PDT by wideminded

Investigators unraveling how concrete ceiling panels cascaded onto a car in one of the Big Dig tunnels should focus on some basic, troubling questions about the way the tunnel ceiling was built, civil engineers and highway construction specialists said yesterday.

Officials from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority suspect that the accident that killed Milena Del Valle began with the failure of a single steel hanger that helped hold up the concrete ceiling, setting off a chain reaction that caused other hangers to fail and send 12 tons of concrete to the highway surface as Del Valle's husband drove underneath.

...


(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: bigdig; design; engineering; screwup
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When I read about the installation of bolts to hold up the multi-ton ceiling panels, and the fact that each hole drilled cost taxpayers $67, I imagined that the bolts would be several feet long. In fact they are only a few inches long.
1 posted on 07/12/2006 10:08:23 AM PDT by wideminded
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To: wideminded

I'll bet over the next 20 years....the state has to throw over $2 billion into repairs for this tunnel. They will eventually determine that it cannot make a profit and is too dangerous...so then the concrete trucks will begin to pull up...and another $200 million in concrete will be into the tunnel.


2 posted on 07/12/2006 10:10:32 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: wideminded

shades of Hyatt Regency collapse - Kansas City, MO. 1981...


3 posted on 07/12/2006 10:11:04 AM PDT by Hegemony Cricket (Rugged individualists of the world, unite!)
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To: wideminded
...each hole drilled cost taxpayers $67...

Look for the union label.

4 posted on 07/12/2006 10:12:56 AM PDT by rhombus
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To: wideminded

What do you expect for only 13 billion dollars - QUALITY?


5 posted on 07/12/2006 10:13:10 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - They want to die for Islam, and we want to kill them.)
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To: wideminded

Looks to me like the bolts pulled out of the epoxy.

I wonder how much overdesign was put into this and did they end up changing it?


6 posted on 07/12/2006 10:13:38 AM PDT by Lx (Do you like it, do you like it. Scott? I call it Mr. and Mrs. Tennerman chili.)
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To: wideminded
It's not the length of the bolts that's troubling, looking at the pictures, they did not pull out of the epoxy. Rather, it's the epoxy that gave way.

A more direct question, at least in my mind, is why are there 1 1/2 ton panels hanging in the first place? What's wrong with leaving the tunnel roof exposed?
7 posted on 07/12/2006 10:14:34 AM PDT by Freeport
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To: wideminded

Why do they need the ceiling panels anyway? For looks? After a few years, all the diesel smoke turns everything black anyway. What's the difference?

I'd rather see bare structural concrete above me than non-functional multi-ton panels held up by glue.


8 posted on 07/12/2006 10:15:24 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Democrats are guilty of whatever they scream the loudest about.)
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To: wideminded
Workmanship and design of tunnel are called into question

Really? They don't think the design or workmanship had anything to do with its falling apart, do they?

9 posted on 07/12/2006 10:16:58 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Have some hyperbolic rodomontade, and nothing worse will happen for the rest of the day!)
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To: Freeport; Fresh Wind
A more direct question, at least in my mind, is why are there 1 1/2 ton panels hanging in the first place? What's wrong with leaving the tunnel roof exposed?

As I understand it, the space between the ceiling and the tunnel wall is used as an air duct. Of course ventilation of the tunnel is very important.

10 posted on 07/12/2006 10:19:48 AM PDT by wideminded
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To: rhombus
...each hole drilled cost taxpayers $67...
Look for the union label.

Algore's lullaby!

(Wondering how much of that $67/hole went into his campaign. And Teddy's, and ....)

11 posted on 07/12/2006 10:20:49 AM PDT by thulldud ("Para ingles, oprima el dos.")
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To: Lx
Epoxy is only as strong as the materials into which it is bonded.


Massachusetts Attorney General Tom-"Defender of all serial Rapists"-Reilly, left,
and Turnpike Authority Chairman Matt Amorello, right,
scheme as they wait for others to enter a Big Dig tunnel in Boston, Tuesday, July 11, 2006,
where slabs fell from the ceiling late Monday night murdering a female motorist.
Reilly acted as lawyer to Amorello advising him to avoid talking to the media.


In Boston, bolts and hardware which were involved in the paroxysmal murder of Milena Delvalle, 38,
by shoddy substandard construction, are first identified and then removed
from the crime scene without evidence of a "tag and bag" or even gloves to preserve prints.


12 posted on 07/12/2006 10:21:04 AM PDT by Diogenesis (Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum)
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To: Hegemony Cricket
I think you're onto something here.

In Kansas City, the hanger rods for the walkways were not built as originally specified. Instead of a continuous rod, the contractor suggested (and the idiot architect approved) side-by-side rods at the fourth floor box beams. This concentrated the load on the lower end of the upper rod, and they pulled out of the box beams.

Here, it looks like the glue and bolt length were completely inadequate to hold a kids' tree house, let alone a three ton slab. If this was designed this way, the architect is on the chopping block. If the contractor just substituted these short bolts on the job, he's on the block . . . unless he's just quietly disappeared.

13 posted on 07/12/2006 10:21:05 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: rhombus
...each hole drilled cost taxpayers $67...

About 15 seconds to drill with a rotary hammer.

14 posted on 07/12/2006 10:21:10 AM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: Freeport
If there's an adequate length of bolt, there's more epoxy, and less force on it; hence it's less likely to give way.

Unless the epoxy is shown to be substandard, this is a hole-and-bolt length problem.

Also inadequate redundancy. They are supposed to design these things so that remaining bolts can continue to support the structure if a certain percentage of bolts fail. This is a classic lack-of-redundancy chain-reaction failure.

15 posted on 07/12/2006 10:23:57 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: wideminded
Ya know, something bothers me about construction techniques that rely on glue to suspend 3 ton concrete slabs overhead. Maybe I'm funny in that way, but that just does not seem reasonable design standards. You mean to tell me that the glue holding the 3 tom concrete slab overhead would not deteriorate over time?

The other irony I see here is the Boston Globs coverage. The Boston Glob pushed hard to do the big dig in the first place.
16 posted on 07/12/2006 10:25:23 AM PDT by Obadiah (I wanted to play Mousetrap. You roll the dice, you move your mice. Nobody gets hurt.)
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To: wideminded
"..should focus on some basic, troubling questions.."

Oh, just now? What about a review while still in the planning stages?

Don't look for any real blame placed anywhere.

Meanwhile, the re-design and re-construction will take at least another fifteen years and another umpteen billion dollars of the taxpayers' money.

17 posted on 07/12/2006 10:25:46 AM PDT by Designer (Just a nit-pick'n and chagrin'n)
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To: Fresh Wind
Hey, it's BAAASSSTOON and we all know how important APPEARANCES, LOUSY JUDGEMENT and COVERING UP are to those folks.

Just think "TEDDY KENNEDY" and there you have it!

Image hosting by Photobucket

18 posted on 07/12/2006 10:26:06 AM PDT by Dick Bachert
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To: wideminded

Wonder if Ted Kennedy and John Kerry have released any statements concerning their roles in this less than worthwhile stewardship of our tax dollars in their state.


19 posted on 07/12/2006 10:26:11 AM PDT by rod1
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To: Fresh Wind

From another article, the drop ceiling creates an air channel for the exhaust gases. In the other tunnels, a lighter ceiling is suspended from bolts that were anchored in the concrete when it was poured. Likely someone asked, "hey where is the air channel thingie" and the contractor said "whoops, my bad" and a soon-to-be ex-civil engineer came up with this scheme. Why 3-ton concrete slabs were chosen will probably lead to another scandal when they determine who got the contract to implement that bit of questionable design.


20 posted on 07/12/2006 10:26:41 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (Go home and fix Mexico)
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