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Mass gov. seeks to fire MTA head after tunnel crash

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 July 2006, 14:29 CDT

By Jason Szep

BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney called for the ouster of the head of the $14 billion "Big Dig" on Tuesday after part of a tunnel ceiling collapsed, killing a woman and rekindling questions over its safety.

Faulty steel beams called "tiebacks" that hold up 40-foot (12-meter) concrete ceiling panels gave way, causing four to six panels to fall, including one that crushed the roof of a Honda sedan at about 11 p.m. (0300 GMT) on Monday. A woman in the car was killed.

The accident in the Interstate 90 connector tunnel was the latest problem to mar the Big Dig, the nation's biggest public works project.

Romney said his office had begun legal steps to remove the head of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, Matt Amorello, whose agency oversees the project.

"It is time for change at that authority," Romney told a news conference "People should not have to drive through the Turnpike tunnels with their fingers crossed."

The 15-year Big Dig project was designed to replace outdated elevated highways with a sleek system of tunnels.

But the project, compared in scope to the Hoover Dam or the Panama Canal, has been plagued by cost overruns, leaks and accusations of poor construction practices. The last major piece of the Big Dig was completed this year, although some construction is still being done.

Amorello said the fallen panels had been built in 1999 and were meant to be inspected every two years.

"It's a horrible, horrible tragedy," Amorello told reporters. "We will leave no stone unturned and no expense spared in pursuing any wrongdoing that may have occurred in the installation of these ceiling panels."

The tunnel was closed on Tuesday morning, choking rush hour traffic across Boston with some commuters delayed by more than an hour as police and engineers cordoned off the connector, which leads to the Ted Williams Tunnel and Boston's airport.

Amorello said state police were investigating and vowed to get to the bottom of why the beams gave way in a 200-ft (61 meter) section that forms the tunnel's air-ventilation system.

The panels were built by a local contractor, Modern Continental, which said it was confident of the quality of its work.

Source: REUTERS

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