Collapsed Concrete Ceiling Tiles Served No Structural Purpose (Ted Williams Tunnel)

Howie Carr ^ | 7/12/06 | Howie Carr

[Aquinasfan]

Howie Carr reports that an "unnamed source" has revealed that the 3-ton ceiling panels in the Ted Williams Tunnel, several of which collapsed killing a driver Monday, serve no structural purpose. Their purpose is strictly aesthetic.

At a news conference yesterday, spokesmen for the turnpike authority intimated that the panels help to remove exhaust from the tunnel. The unnamed source claims that the panels only serve to hide the ceiling fans.

[lmailbvmbipfwedu]

No matter how available concrete is it will not be used as aircraft airframe components........

[DustyMoment]

Howie Carr reports that an "unnamed source" has revealed that the 3-ton ceiling panels in the Ted Williams Tunnel, several of which collapsed killing a driver Monday, serve no structural purpose.

Shouldn't that be the Ted Kennedy Tunnel?? Ted Kennedy serves no useful function, either. Ted Williams could play baseball!!

[elkfersupper]

Form over substance wastes money and kills people.

I've been telling the boss this for years.

[DAC21]

The panels served the purpose of padding contracts and profits at the tax payer expense. Mass. is used to it.

[Aquinasfan]

Shouldn't that be the Ted Kennedy Tunnel?? Ted Kennedy serves no useful function, either. Ted Williams could play baseball!!

Absolutely. Ted's probably rolling over in his cryogenic suspension. < /tasteless joke>

[mhx]

Yeah, the latest excuse is that the ceiling tiles had to withstand hurricane-force winds.

It didn't even withstand no winds.

[Obadiah]

In another article it was noted that each concrete ceiling tile weighed 3 tons and was held in place with short bolts and epoxy glue! Yeah, that's what I want, three tons of concrete suspended over me by glue! My guess is that they ran out of duct tape somewhere along the way and found some old glue to use.

[raccoonradio]

Actual message on http://www.masspike.com

Chairman's Message

Matthew J. Amorello, ChairmanSummer is the season for family vacations and cookouts and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has all its resources ready to help you find a fun tourist destination and to get you there safely.

As the "Main Street of Massachusetts,'' the Massachusetts Turnpike is the road to summer fun and we have a lot more to offer than the safest and best ....

[Enchante]

"It seems to me that this was make-work or make-expense"

YES, that's what struck me about using tons of concrete for such a purpose (I'm no whiz-bang engineer, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express once). It would seem to defy common sense to place umpteen tons of non-functional concrete overhead, suspended below the ventilation fans, unless someone was merely trying to make work and money for certain union and mob pals.

Can anyone here estimate how many tons of concrete would be involved in this, how much the (fictional) costs might have padded the project, etc.???

In the end we'll probably find out (or maybe never learn) how corrupt union and mob figures had their greasy grubby hands deep into the federal till for this $14 billion project. btw, why on earth did they ever put it all underground, didn't that increase the costs enormously? I understand that the entire "big dig" project hardly improved the traffic carrying capacity of the old ramps and highways along I-93 at all, that it was basically a grand project in aesthetics for the Kennedy-Kerry crowd to enjoy?

[Moonman62]

Makes nothing but sense, a mesh screen would be just as esthetically appealing at a fraction of the cost. How were the fans to be serviced behind 3 1/2 ton concrete panels?

Lots of expensive union labor.

[Radix]

I got some personal issues with Howie, but he is dead on concerning this subject.

He is often right on a whole boatload of issues.

I rarely listen to his program, but I do have him on now.

He is tearing those hacks up!

[from occupied ga]

unless someone was merely trying to make work and money for certain union and mob pals.

This is Boston - home of the Democratic taxpayer fueled rip-off machine; is there any doubt at all this is EXACTLY why the panels are there?

[Aquinasfan]

As the "Main Street of Massachusetts,'' the Massachusetts Turnpike is the road to summer fun and we have a lot more to offer than the safest and best ....

Oh maaaaaaan...

People who aren't from around here don't know that the Mass Turnpike Authority is an autonomous board that effectively answers to no one. The authority was slated to pass out of existence a few years ago, so they floated their own 30 year bonds!

Since then, they've just gone around looking for ways to spend the money. New sound barriers go up just about every year. They've begun to plant wildflowers all along the Pike. It's unbefreekinlievable...

[Radix]

"When you name something after Ted Williams, expect things to come to a head..........."

Please, Teddy Ballgame was a fighter pilot Marine war hero. More than once!

[AGreatPer]

"One rumor going around is that when the construction crews drilling the holes for the tie-backs ran into rebar, they stopped drilling and cut the bolts short."

That makes more sense than anything that I have heard.

BTW, I have never heard of a cement suspended ceiling.

[P-Marlowe]

Typical of a government project: lots of dead, useless weight that cost tons of taxpayer money.

And eventually kills people.

[LowOiL]

I don't know about this, even a potatoe dropped for an overpass onto a speeding car can kill. So lightweight items can kill just a well as cement...

BTW... Concrete is dry ... Cement is poured/hard... my sister corrected me on that the other day...

Also, items that are lightweight often can cause problems when wind speeds hit them just right. Weight is often a good thing.

Just saying, those supporting light weight construction materials possible are not in the know of what works. I will need to ask my sister on this subject... she makes her living on these questions.

[Red Badger]

Hero or not, I have heard that he was not a pleasant person to be around.....Kinda like McCain.......

[raccoonradio]

MassPike: "the safest and best maintained highway in the nation. "

List of Big Dig blunders:
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=147966

Gusher bursts in the I-93 tunnel

Inspections reveal 189 wall panels are defective and there are more than 2,000 leaks in the I-93 tunnels

June 1998: Internal memo circulated by managers at Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff raises concern about potential leaks. Memo made public in 2004. Dig now estimated at $10.4 billion

July 10, 2006: Large concrete slab in an I-90 Seaport connector tunnel crashes down on a car, killing one person and shutting down the tunnel in both directions

[poobear]

"It seems to me that this was make-work or make-expense."

You nailed it. I wonder how many architects, engineers, design planners, federal bureaucrats, site managers, concrete subcontractors and on down the line were involved in this massive fraud. It's sickening.