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| Romney moves to oust Big Dig chief as tunnel repairs continue |
| 2006-07-19 |
| BOSTON --Gov. Mitt Romney supplied the head of Boston's Big Dig with written allegations of mismanagement and moved forward Tuesday in his efforts to oust him, while crews worked to repair a tunnel network where tons of ceiling panels fell, crushing a motorist. Romney has for years been a critic of Matthew Amorello, the chairman and chief executive of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which oversees the massive $14.6 billion highway project, and has repeatedly failed in his effort to get Amorello to step down. However, Romney said the fatal accident July 10 bolsters his argument the project has been mismanaged and Amorello should be removed as chief executive. A hearing was scheduled for July 27 on Amorello's dismissal. Romney refused to release the specific allegations and said the hearing would be private. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Romney was on the news last night, on a cherry picker right at the mounting plates. He explained how to recognize the signs of bolt failure, and how they were going to solve the problem by backing up the epoxied bolts with expansion bolts. He came across as competent and in charge. The idea of gluing bolts into an oversize hole, with the epoxy mixed in the hole as the bolt is inserted, seems ludicrous especially if you expect it to last a century. The new design involves a bolt which expands into an oversized pocket at the bottom of the hole. I would have thought they would have used that obvious approach in the beginning, but apparently there are a lot of tunnel ceilings in Boston and elsewhere that use epoxied bolts. The unusual part of the Big Dig design was the weight of the ceiling panels. |
| Posted by: KBK 2006-07-19 13:56 |