BOSTON (AP) – Days after Gov. Mitt Romney said repairs had been completed in a Big Dig ramp, workers were back inside Monday, replacing nearly two dozen ceiling panel brackets to help win federal approval to reopen the ramp.
Workers were replacing the 23 brackets in the so-called “Ramp A” section of the Big Dig near the location of last month’s accident that killed a Boston woman who was crushed by a falling ceiling panel. Workers were replacing brackets that attach the heavy concrete panels to the tunnel ceiling.
On Friday Romney said repair work had been finished in the ramp, but that he was open to making any additional changes that the Federal Highway Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation’s inspector general may recommend to ensure the tunnel is safe.
“If so, those will be made. If not, we’ll be ready to roll,” Romney said Friday.
Jon Carlisle of the state Executive Office of Transportation said state officials had initially hoped to make temporary repair to the brackets, but decided to make the repairs permanent while the ramp was still closed.
He said the decision was made after talks with federal highway officials.
“This is something we decided in conversation with the federal highway administration,” he said.
The ramp is expected to reopen soon, once federal authorities give their approval.
Also Monday, workers were replacing a ceiling brackets in the Ted Williams Tunnel leading to Logan International Airport.
Officials were planning to shut down the eastbound section of the Ted Williams tunnel to the MBTA’s Silver Line and the Logan Express at 6 p.m. Monday. The tunnel was to remain closed until Tuesday morning commute to let workers fix a questionable bracket holding up one of the tunnel’s ceiling sections. The eastbound airport tunnel has been open to buses.
If Ramp A is reopened, it would give general traffic access to the Ted Williams, bringing the first measure of relief for motorists since the July 10 accident that killed Milena Del Valle, 39, of Boston in an adjacent Interstate 90 connector tunnel.
Other closed tunnel sections could take months to inspect and reopen.
AP-ES-08-07-06 1800EDT
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