What do we know about the Big Dig Tunnel?

Well, I now know a bit, and I don't like it.

Basically, bureaucracy builds a big tunnel under a major city, Boston, for people to drive on, and when typical disaster happens, they blame everyone and create huge lawsuits. So far, anything from shoddy work/materials to building something that is beyond us for the moment (unlikely since we've had subways for too long for that to be a real issue) has caused one car to get smushed by a ceiling pannel, killing the driver, Milena Del Valle. Out of fear of more deaths, they went through and checked all the ceiling pannels, finding "1,100 suspect bolts" and shut down Ted Williams Tunnel, eastbound, under Boston. So far the political dickering is between J. Richard Capka (former Federal Highway Administrator), Sen. John Kerry (no idea why he's involved), Matt Amorello (Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman), and Gov. Mitt Romney (who tried to remove M. A. from office, hence a lawsuit).

Traffic was disrupted once again in a key Big Dig tunnel after inspectors found loose bolts in a ceiling panel — the same sort of problem that is believed to have killed a motorist earlier this month.
Three loose bolts — one had dislodged about a half inch — were found at the westbound entrance to the Ted Williams harbor tunnel Monday. Traffic was diverted around the questionable panel and it was shored up with a portable support device.
....
The latest problem was discovered hours after Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman Matt Amorello, who has overseen the beleaguered Big Dig project, filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the governor from holding a hearing on Thursday seeking to demote him from his $223,000-a-year post.
Romney has long criticized his management of the Big Dig, and renewed calls for his ouster as chairman since the fatal ceiling collapse. Amorello's lawyers contend that the governor does not have the authority to demote him.

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON --It's been more than four years since Federal Highway Administrator J. Richard Capka ran Boston's Big Dig, and the problem-plagued highway project is still creating headaches for him.
Watchdog groups and Massachusetts lawmakers question how Capka can oversee his agency's probe of a deadly ceiling collapse inside a Big Dig tunnel last week, given that he headed the sprawling project for 18 months until his dismissal in June 2002.
"This smacks of having the coach of the team referee the game," said Wendell Rawls, acting executive director of the Center for Public Integrity.

Boston.com News

"Under the manual you wouldn't even have to look at these things," he said. "There's no maintenance requirement for those components." ...
The tunnels throughout Boston's Big Dig highway system have been heavily scrutinized since a motorist was killed last week by 12 tons of falling concrete ceiling panels.
Inspectors discovered more than 1,100 suspect bolts in the ceilings of that tunnel and nearby tunnel ramps.

Washington Post

Oficial site on Big Dig Traffic
Big Dig's history
Beyond Big Dig
Article on the opening of Big Dig
Similar to above
Discovery Channel on Big Dig
NPR's fears of Big Dig

I'm not screaming conspiracy for one big reason. This is typical governent, everyday, and humdrum. I'm quite sure someone, somehwere along the way, skimmed money out of the project. I'm also quite sure they could find plenty of cheap material throughout the dig. ...but then, I find nothing abnormal about that.

[edit on 25-7-2006 by jlc163]

This article, though, may be enough to fuss about cover-up: There is a memo that has existed since 1999 about the slabs of concrete not being properly anchored. To make matters mroe depressing, it was a small child that first pointed out how rediculous it was to assume that the epoxy would hold up concrete.

Keaveney told the Globe that he really began to worry about the ceiling after a third-grade class from his hometown of Norwell came to visit the Big Dig for a tour in 1999. He showed the class some concrete ceiling panels and pointed to the bolts in the ceiling, explaining that the panels would one day hang from those bolts.
A third-grade girl raised her hand and asked him, "Will those things hold up the concrete?"
"It was like the (third-graders) had pointed out the emperor has no clothes," he said. "I said, 'Yes, it would hold,' but then I thought about it."
Keaveney's eyes welled with tears as spoke of how he blamed himself in part for Del Valle's death, the newspaper said.
"I failed to open my mouth. I failed to push the letter I wrote for results," he said. "I am partially responsible for the death of this mother."

7 year warning