Mass. “Big Dig” chair to resign

By Scott Malone

BOSTON (Reuters) – The director of Boston’s “Big Dig”
tunnel program agreed on Thursday to resign, two weeks after a
tunnel ceiling collapsed and killed a motorist.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney announced the resignation of
Matthew Amorello, chairman of the state’s Turnpike Authority,
who came under heavy criticism after a three-ton ceiling panel
tore loose on July 10, killing a woman and forcing the closure
of the 7.8-mile tunnel system.

“This is good news for the commonwealth, the right step for
Matt Amorello to have taken,” Romney, a 2008 Republican
presidential hopeful, told reporters.

Romney said he had not yet decided who he would name to
succeed Amorello, whose resignation is effective August 15, but
added he didn’t want a politician to take the job.

“I want somebody who knows how the wheels of automobiles
and trucks turn and how engineers can do a fine job finishing
the work of the Big Dig,” Romney said.

Officials at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority did not
immediately respond to phone calls for comment.

The move came hours before a hearing was scheduled in which
Romney planned to try to remove Amorello from his job.

Romney, a Republican 2008 presidential hopeful, has been
seeking to oust Amorello since March, following reports of
defects in dozens of sections of the tunnel wall.

Romney has criticized Amorello’s oversight of the $15
billion program, the country’s biggest public works project,
which has been plagued by cost overruns and accusations of the
use of sub-standard material.

One observer said that with Amorello out of the picture,
Romney’s challenge becomes finding someone who can repair the
construction problems at the tunnel while also quickly
reopening the closed lanes that have pushed tens of thousands
of cars onto Boston’s crowded streets each day, leading to
extensive traffic jams.

“The problem for Gov. Romney now is that he never
articulated what he wanted different at the Massachusetts
Turnpike Authority other than that he wanted new leadership,”
said Jeffrey Berry, professor of political science at Tufts
University. “The further we get away from Amorello, the more
the question will emerge of ‘What’s your position and what do
you want to do differently?”