[Organize] Bechtel's Big Dig now subject of criminal investigation

[david meieran]

A major section (12 tons!) of one Bechtel's "Big Dig" tunnels in  
Boston collapsed and killed a woman today, prompting a *criminal*  
investigation into Bechtel's mismanagement.

This further underscores the importance of having an action in  
Boston, as now they are sure to get plenty of coverage. Please -  
anyone with any contacts in Boston should work them.

Three AP articles are below.

dm

* * *

1. Woman killed when part of ceiling falls in Big Dig tunnel

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/07/11/ 
woman_killed_when_part_of_ceiling_falls_in_i_90_connector_tunnel/? 
p1=MEWell_Pos4
By Ken Maguire, Associated Press Writer  |  July 11, 2006

BOSTON --At least 12 tons of concrete fell from the ceiling of one of  
Boston's Big Dig tunnels, crushing a woman in a car and again raising  
concerns about the integrity of the massive highway project that is  
the central artery through the city.

A steel tieback that held a 40-foot ceiling section over Interstate  
90 eastbound gave way late Monday night in the tunnel, a main access  
way to Boston's Logan International Airport. The tunnel was closed  
indefinitely as crews worked to remove about 30 ceiling slabs in a  
200-foot section where the collapse occurred, Authority Chairman  
Matthew Amorello said Tuesday.

Milena Delvalle, 38, of Boston's Jamaica Plain section, was  
pronounced dead at the scene. Angel Delvalle, 46, managed to crawl  
out a window of their crushed car with less than a foot of clearance  
and suffered minor injuries, according to State Police.

Their car was partially crushed under at least four ceiling panels,  
each weighing 3 tons. The vehicle 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.

Milena Delvalle was a native of Costa Rica, and the two were  
newlyweds. They were on the way to the airport to pick up his brother  
and sister in law, who had been vacationing in his native Puerto Rico.

"We feel awful about what happened last night," Amorello said. "It's  
an awful, awful tragedy. ... This is an awful situation that occurred."

Amorello appointed a state police major, two outside consultants and  
a team from the Federal Highway Administration to assist in the  
investigation. The accident happened near the entrance to the Ted  
Williams Tunnel, which goes under the Boston Harbor to the airport.

He said he had ordered a precautionary inspection of the Williams  
Tunnel, which has similar tiebacks but a different ceiling structure.  
Amorello also said that tiebacks similar to the one that failed were  
used in 17 spots on the Interstate 90 section of the Big Dig project,  
and all those were being checked.

"I don't think anyone can feel the tunnels are safe, given what  
happened this morning," Gov. Mitt Romney told a New England Cable  
News reporter after touring the accident site.

Amorello said he hoped the eastbound side of the closed tunnel could  
be reopened by midday Wednesday.

"Any responsible party will be held accountable for what happened,"  
Amorello said. "This is an unacceptable, horrible tragedy."

The accident caused huge traffic problems, with backups of several  
miles on many roadways into the city. Motorists trying to get to and  
from the airport were particularly affected. Traffic headed east to  
Logan was detoured through the Callahan Tunnel, and westbound traffic  
exiting the Ted Williams Tunnel was detoured through the city's South  
Boston neighborhood.

Officials urged commuters and airport travelers to use public transit  
-- particularly trains or boats -- to get to the airport or into the  
city.

The ceiling panels were erected in 1999 and the contractor was Modern  
Continental, Amorello said.

In that section, the tiebacks are bolted to a concrete ceiling. Above  
it is an industrial area of South Boston home to the Boston  
Convention Center and the World Trade Center.

Modern Continental and a spokesman for project manager Bechtel/ 
Parsons Brinckerhoff did not respond to calls for comment Tuesday.

The $14.6 billion Big Dig highway project, which buried Interstate 93  
beneath downtown and extended the Turnpike to the airport, has been  
criticized for construction problems and cost overruns that state  
officials have said did not compromise safety.

There have been water leaks in parts of the tunnel system and at  
least one incident when smaller amounts of dirt and debris from an  
airshaft in another section of the tunnel system fell onto travel  
lanes, causing minor damage to cars.

In May, prosecutors charged six current and former employees of a  
concrete supplier with fraud for allegedly concealing that some  
concrete delivered to the Big Dig was not freshly mixed. State and  
federal officials said that long-term maintenance, not immediate  
safety, was the likely impact.

Amorello said preliminary investigation shows that the quality of the  
concrete was not to blame for the fatal accident Monday night.

Boston Mayor Tom Menino called for a third-party investigation and  
quick answers to restore confidence in people traveling in Boston.

"We don't need a six-month study. We need an immediate reaction and  
action by the different authorities so that we can reassure the  
public as they drive into the city or drive over to the airport that  
the tunnel is safe to go through," he said.

Christy Mihos, an independent candidate for governor and former  
member of the Turnpike Authority Board and agency critic, called the  
accident "my worst nightmare come true." He renewed his call for the  
attorney general to immediately cease any negotiations with Big Dig  
contractors over construction overcharges and urged the governor to  
seize control of the Turnpike's day-to-day operations.



* * *

2. Big Dig ceiling collapse triggers political repercussions
By Glen Johnson, AP Political Writer  |  July 11, 2006

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/07/11/ 
big_dig_ceiling_collapse_triggers_political_repercussions?mode=PF

BOSTON --It was almost impossible to separate the official from the  
political Tuesday as all manner of government officials responded to  
the collapse of Big Dig ceiling panels that killed a passing motorist.

Gov. Mitt Romney proposed replacing Turnpike Authority Chairman  
Matthew Amorello, arguing the fatality was the last example of a  
series of management failures that has undermined public confidence  
in the $14.6 billion project. It also would achieve a goal Romney has  
pursued for over three years, namely bringing the independent  
authority under his political control.

Attorney General Tom Reilly launched a criminal investigation, moving  
quickly to issue subpoenas and secure evidence. The swiftness of his  
action belied recent criticism that the Democratic gubernatorial  
candidate had moved too slowly -- and aimed too low -- as he  
spearheaded efforts to recoup money from the burgeoning costs of the  
most expensive highway project in U.S. history.

In addition, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino sought an independent safety  
review of the Central Artery tunnels. It was an effort to reassure  
commuters and tourists, who help buoy the economy of the state's  
capital city.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey -- who is running for governor and  
was serving as acting governor at the time of the fatality while  
Romney was out of state on vacation -- complained about a lack of  
communication by Amorello, saying she didn't hear about it until the  
morning and largely through media reports.

And a visibly shaken Christy Mihos, who has used his anti-Turnpike  
celebrity to buoy his independent gubernatorial campaign, labeled the  
accident "my worst nightmare come true."

Strangely silent on the whole matter was the state Legislature, which  
has injected itself into Big Dig politics at pivotal moments in the  
past -- most recently 10 days ago when they voted to extend the term  
of a departing board member in an effort to prevent Romney from  
gaining control of the Turnpike Authority, which governs the  
construction project.

It was members of the House and Senate, under the leadership of House  
Speaker Thomas Finneran and Senate President Thomas Birmingham, who  
almost precisely four years ago also tucked a provision into a  
transportation bond bill that expanded the Turnpike Authority's board  
of directors from three to five members.

The move, signed into law by then-acting Gov. Jane Swift on Aug. 10,  
2002, thwarted efforts by Mihos and fellow board member Jordan Levy  
to increase public oversight of the Big Dig project. That same year,  
Swift brought in Amorello as the authority's chairman, creating a  
foil for Romney when he took office in January 2003.

The decay in the relationship between the two Republicans was evident  
on Tuesday, when Romney made a hastily arranged trip to the accident  
site after Amorello skipped an emergency meeting of various state  
agencies in the governor's Statehouse office to discuss the accident.

Video of the scene showed the normally mild-mannered Romney  
upbraiding Amorello, who appeared taken aback the viciousness of the  
criticism.

"If you will, the mountain went to Mohammed," the governor said  
later. "I expressed my disappointment that he had not been able to  
meet together with all those agencies."

Amorello would later say that he respected both Romney and Reilly,  
who also urged him to step aside, but the safety of the tunnels was  
his immediate priority. "The chairman," as he likes to be called,  
said he had no intention of stepping aside "at this time."

Politics has been intertwined with the Big Dig since its inception in  
the 1980s, when then-House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill and then- 
U.S. Rep. Joseph Moakley helped secure funding for the project.

During the past six years, however, personality clashes have  
threatened to overshadow questions about project oversight and safety.

Swift fired Levy and Mihos in February 2002 after the two Central  
Artery critics refused to institute a toll increase she requested.  
The Supreme Judicial Court reinstated them in May 2002.

In August 2002, the Legislature sought to bolster the acting  
governor's position by expanding the board. Swift quickly added two  
loyalists.

Two years later, her successor, Romney, sought to create a bipartisan  
commission that would appoint a special prosecutor to handle cost- 
recovery efforts amid allegations of shoddy workmanship and excessive  
charges. Instead, the Democratic-controlled Legislature gave  
oversight to fellow Democrat Reilly, the state's chief law  
enforcement officer.

In March, Reilly announced he was seeking a $108 million refund from  
project manager Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff. Romney labeled it "too  
little and too late."

The most recent political intervention came on June 30, when the  
Legislature voted to extend Levy's term so Romney could not appoint  
his former consumer affairs director, Beth Lindstrom, to the Turnpike  
board.

Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, D-Boston, who sponsored the budget amendment,  
said it was necessary to maintain continuity in project oversight.

Romney vetoed the legislation over the weekend, but some lawmakers  
pledged to override him this week. The governor said Tuesday he hoped  
the ceiling collapse changed minds.

"There's been an effort on some people to try and insulate the  
Turnpike Authority from the management of the Executive Branch,"  
Romney said during a Statehouse news conference. "I hope that that  
effort has come to an end today."

* * *

3.  Problems have long plagued massive Big Dig highway project

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/07/11/ 
problems_have_long_plagued_massive_big_dig_highway_project/?page=full
By Brooke Donald, Associated Press Writer  |  July 11, 2006

BOSTON --Replacing the city's elevated expressway with a tunnel was a  
technical marvel, considered the equivalent of changing a tire while  
a car continued down the highway at 60 mph.

But problems from flooding and icing to delays and cost-overruns have  
repeatedly tarnished the massive highway project -- the nation's  
costliest that eventually rose to a price tag of more than $14.5  
billion.

Then on Monday night, its image and integrity were shook once again  
when a woman was crushed to death in her car by a 3-ton ceiling panel  
while she and her husband drove to the airport to pick up vacationing  
relatives.

While some drivers called the collapse a "freak accident," others  
said it was a horrific reminder of years of bad events surrounding  
the Big Dig, and wondered whether they could trust the government to  
fix the problems.

"To think that a slab can fall on you while you're driving through a  
tunnel is not a good thought, it's not inspiring," said Dominic  
DeRiso, 21, of Boston, who said he frequently uses the project's maze  
of tunnels, bridges and roadways, especially when heading to Logan  
International Airport.

"From the leaks to now this," he added, "it seems as though there was  
a lot of carelessness in the planning."

Gov. Mitt Romney echoed commuters' concerns, lamenting that drivers  
shouldn't have to cross their fingers as they traveled around the  
notoriously traffic-clogged roads. He moved to oust Massachusetts  
Turnpike Chairman Matt Amorello, long a target of his wrath over  
construction problems and cost overruns.

"Through his failures, Matt Amorello has undermined public confidence  
in the safety of the Big Dig tunnels," Romney said.

In Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood, where the victim of the  
collapse, Milena Del Valle, 38, lived with her husband, family  
members were shocked and angry.

Iobel Navarro, a cousin of Del Valle's husband, said he was  
frustrated that despite billions of dollars spent on the Big Dig, it  
apparently isn't safe.

"You should feel good about where you live and about how your money  
is being spent on projects," he said. "How could something like this  
happen? It's unbelievable after so much money and time went into this  
project. Highways shouldn't fall down."

Formally called the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project, the  
Big Dig buried Interstate 93 beneath downtown and connected the  
Massachusetts Turnpike to Logan with a third tunnel beneath Boston  
Harbor.

It was hailed for transforming Boston's downtown and unclogging one  
of the most notorious bottlenecks in the country's interstate highway  
system. According to a study released earlier this year that was  
funded by the Turnpike Authority, the drive through the center of  
Boston is almost seven times faster than it was before the Big Dig,  
taking now just under 3 minutes to travel through the city's center.

But the project, whose heavy construction work began in 1991, has  
been hammered because of long delays, structural problems, criminal  
investigations and ballooning costs that grew from $2.6 billion to  
$14.6 billion.

In 2004, a wall panel sprung an eight-inch hole, flooding the  
northbound Interstate 93 tunnel and causing a 10-mile backup. That  
led to the discovery of 169 wall panels in need of some repairs.

Separately, inspectors also found about 1,716 spots in the Big Dig  
tunnels, where water seeped and dripped from the juncture of tunnel  
roofs and walls. Officials have said the leaks pose no threat to the  
safety of people driving through the tunnels.

Legal issues also are pending. Lawyers from the Attorney General's  
office have been working to recover money from some of the  
contractors that worked on the Big Dig.

Also, in May, prosecutors charged six current and former employees of  
a concrete supplier with fraud for allegedly concealing that some  
concrete delivered to the Big Dig was not freshly mixed. State and  
federal officials said that long-term maintenance, not immediate  
safety, was the likely impact.

Kenneth Mead, the former inspector general for the U.S. Department of  
Transportation who investigated cost overruns and other Big Dig  
problems over the years, stressed that the project has been plagued  
by quality control issues from the beginning.

"I look askance when people say this is not a safety issue," he said  
in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Mead, now an attorney with a Washington law firm, said he's confident  
the project has structural integrity. But he warned that the full  
extent of quality control issues remains a wild card.

"A three-ton 20 by 40 (foot) slab is not supposed to fall from the  
ceiling," he said. "That does suggest to me strongly that there are  
quality control issues."

Officials were quick to pinpoint the problem on a steel tieback that  
held a 40-foot ceiling section over Interstate 90 eastbound gave way,  
causing a 3-ton slab to collapse, which in turn dragged down three  
other slabs.

The tunnel was closed indefinitely as crews worked to remove about 30  
ceiling slabs in a 200-foot section where the collapse occurred.

But even as officials mobilized, some drivers said they would still  
use the Big Dig tunnels because they've become a lifeline for getting  
through the city.

"I think I will be more thoughtful when traveling through, but you  
can't really change your route around that area. I can't imagine  
finding another way," said Liz Morrison, 24, of Boston.

"This is a tragic, but freak accident," said cab driver Rich Oliver,  
35, who goes through the tunnels several times a day bringing  
travelers to the airport. "Does it concern me? Sure. But they will  
fix it. They have to."